Tsukasa is Pregnant and Other Such Stories
by Senorita TacoMal
Summary: The happy little world of Lucky Star is being ripped apart by every little horror, from high school drama, to murder. Rated for language and sexual references. And blood and gore. But that will come later.
1. Sex Toyz

Hihi!! I know I haven't posted in a while '. I have a bunch of stories, but I never finish them, so they never get uploaded.

I don't usually write chapter stories, 'because I usually go back to the beginning and tweak things when they don't add up. And when I post them, I can't tweak :(

Each chapter is named after a song from a certain group. Anyone who can tell me what group wrote them gets a cookie!! And don't cheat. The cookies can smell cheaters...

Rated for language and subjects. I will have no lemons, only limes w I think...

On with the story! And I don't own Lucky Star. If I did, it would be kawaii yet kowai!

* * *

"You like that, don'tcha, bitch!" she snarled sadistically, the corners of her mouth twisting into a feral grin as she lashed the whip again. Her black and pink whore shoes dug into his naturally tanned back.

"Akira-sama… p-please don't…"

She sighed. "What's with you?" she whined in a low voice.

"I already told you! I'm not the masochistic type! And I'm not the type who goes around screwing every girl he sees!"

"You're gay?"

"No!! Ahhh, gomen, Akira-sama. My point is, I don't want to do this!"

"…Y-you're serious?" her voice lasped back into her actual voice, somewhere in between her false innocent screen voice and her deep monotone. "You really don't want me…?"

He couldn't help it. His heart began to melt. "A-akira, don't…"

"SO!?" she snapped, screaming at the top of her lungs with tears in her eyes. "WHICH ONE OF THE LITTLE BITCHES IS IT!? I BET IT'S THAT DAMNED TAKARA!! EVERYONE FUCKING LOVES GIRLS WITH GLASSES, DON'T THEY!?"

"Akira-sama, I don't know wha-"

"The only guy who doesn't want to fuck me is one who already has his eyes on another girl. So is it Takara-senpai, or are we gonna have to get busy with the whip?"

"I don't know those hard-"

SNAP!

Akira's handprint glowed so brightly on Minoru's face, one could probably see it if they turned the light off.

"It's Hi-" he muttered.

"Ehhhhh?? Speak up!"

"Hiiragi-san! Tsukasa Hiiragi-san!"

"Tsu-ka-sa?" Akira murmured, truly stunned. "You're in love with… that CHILD!?"

"Akira-sa-"

"Out."

"But… Akira-sama! This is _my _ro-"

"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!"

Minoru grabbed his shirt and jeans on the way out the door. As he shut it and started pulling his clothes on, he heard soft sobbing from inside the room.

'_Akira-sama…' _he thought, about to cry himself. Even though the middle-schooler continuously put him through grief like the world had never seen before, he still couldn't help but care deeply for her, like a murderous little sister. He couldn't stand seeing her like this. At one point, she had genuinely been the innocent girl she tried so hard now to portray. She had no reason to be the chain-smoking has-been who only gets her jobs through sex that she is now. All it took was one failed audition…

**-Flashback-**

"I… I didn't get the part…?" The 7-year old was stunned.

"I'm so sorry, Akira-chan…" her mother said. "The director explained to me that they were looking for someone a little… younger."

"No way!! I want to talk to the director myself!"

"But… Akira-chan! He's a very busy man-"

"So I'll make him make time!" The little girl stormed back in the direction of the auditorium.

Auditions for the part in the children's toothpaste commercial were already over. Akira burst through the doors with surprising strength (however, the doors were also surprisingly light…) for such a little girl. The director was the only one left in the room, packing papers into a cardboard box.

"Hey, you!" she yelled in her high-pitched voice. "Why didn't I get the part in the commercial!?"

"Ahhh… I'm sorry… Maiko-chan, was it?"

"Akira!! Kogami Akira!!"

"I'm sorry Akira-chan, but me and my colleagues simply believe you look a bit too… mature for the job."

Akira didn't have a comeback for that. So she did what all little kids do. She tried something she had seen in a movie.

She walked up to him determinedly, and grabbed him right between the legs, squeezing hard. "Can I have the part now…?"

The man grunted. But not exactly with pain…

"But that was supposed to hurt…"

"I'll tell you how you can get the job, Akira-kun." He grinned, undoing his belt buckle…

**-End Flashback-**

'_Akira-sama… you really have to pull your life together…'_

* * *

It should get better from here on out. Or at least I'll try! I WILL GANBATTE HARIKITTE!!

Next chapter should be up in a few minutes. Please give it a chance!

Paz out,  
Rabid Shikime Uber Yaoi Fangirl Katon-chan


	2. Bree Bree

o.o

...So much for a few minutes... it took 96 days.

'^^ I was planning to upload this directly afterwards. But my ADD kicked in, and well... heh.

I don't own Lucky Star. But I do own a cute little Cadoozle mechanical pencil ^_^ Quite a few of them, actually. I have one named after me, and another one named after my best guy friend. It's not a Cadoozle, but it's by the same company, and it's the same shape, it's just black instead of... cadoozley.

Enjoy responsibly!

* * *

"You know how you see these ugly girls in movies, and they get a makeover and suddenly become pretty, and guys are suddenly all over them?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Konata let out a depressed sigh. "How come that never happens in real life? Even if a girl gets a makeover, guys get nervous because she's so pretty."

"How should I know?" Kagami frowned. "And didn't you just answer your own question?"

"Quickly, Kagamiiin! Away we must venture to find the great Yuki-chan!!!"

"What's with the medieval dialogue?" Kakami deadpanned in return. "And that's not the kind of question Miyuki will be able to answer!"

-2 minutes later…-

'_She just had to go and ask,' _Kagami groaned in her head.

"How come that never happens in real life?" Miyuki raised her thumb and index finger to her chin, staring upward as if she was looking into her brain. "Well, I've heard that pretty girls don't get as many guys as average girls, probably due to the fact that guys are unnerved by their beauty, and believe they have high standards which they don't meet."

"GOAL!" Konata screamed, striking a very Hare Hare Yukai dance-esque pose.

'_T-this girl is amazing!' _Kagami thought as she gawked at Miyuki. _'She really is a walking interactive encyclopedia!'_

"So does that mean we never get approached by guys because they think we're really pretty?" Tsukasa thought out loud.

"Either that or one of us doesn't meet their standards…" Konata stared in Kagami's direction.

"I hope you know you're a total bitch!!!" the latter growled rabidly.

"Guys don't like rabid girls, Kagamin…!" Konata murmured in a "tsk-tsk" manner.

"Are you sure you're fine walking home by yourself tonight Tsukasa?" Kagami said, worry for her little sister slightly evident in her voice.

"I'm fine! I've done it enough times with one-chan, so I won't get lost," she giggled rubbing the back of her head.

"Well then, have fun at basketball practice! It sucks that I won't get to play during the last game…" The high-school junior grabbed her crutches.

"I will! We'll work hard and we won't disappoint you, onee-chan!"

"Ja!" Konata said waving.

"Sayonara, Tsukasa-san!" Miyuki smiled.

"Make sure you don't talk to strangers. The women-only cars always run on the lines that go by the school, so make sure you get on that one. If anything happens, Inori will have her cellphone on, so make sure to call her right away."

"Onee-chan! I'm only the baby of the family by a few minutes! I can handle it!"

"Gomen, gomen! I just don't want anything happening to you, is all."

"The tin man really does have a heart!" Konata exclaimed, tears of exaggerated emotion flowing down her cheeks.

"You can have some shut the hell up!" Kagami exclaimed right back.

"On second thought…"

"Don't say ANYTHING."

-After practice…-

"Say hi to Kagamin for me and make sure not to get lost, 'kay?" Misao asked, grinning toothily. "We wouldn't want anything happening to our little 'Kasa-chan, would we?"

"U-Un!" Tsukasa nodded, blushing with that last remark. She turned and walked for the door.

The metro stop wasn't too far from the school. She wasn't sure whether the rail station had made it that way or the high school had, but it sure was convenient. The girl was actually quite nervous, being all alone at night like this. But she had a strong wish to prove to her sister and everyone else that she wasn't they defenseless little girl they all thought she was. She was 17, for God's sake!!!

As she studied the sidewalk while she walked, she bumped into someone. Snapping her head up, she recognized this someone to be Shiraishi Minoru. It took a second or two to recognize him without his school uniform on.

"Oh… Mi-Minoru-san! Go-gomen, I wasn't paying attention."

"Oh, um, it was my fault," the boy said blushing. "Where's your sister? You're not walking around here at night alone, are you?"

"Ah, um, well, my sister broke her ankle, well, Konata-chan broke her ankle, and I didn't want her to have to come back here. Plus, I'm perfectly capable of walking home by myself!" Suddenly, she had that determined sparkle in her eyes.

"You live in Washimiya, right?"

"Yes," she replied, the sparkle still in her eyes.

"Um… that train's on the other side of the station… and that was the last of the 10 minute trains…" Minoru pointed to a train that was slowly starting out from the platform, as if it were taunting Tsukasa.

"AHHHH!!!!! What am I going to do now? Another train isn't coming for another 30 minutes!!!!! Onee-chan and all the others will be so worried about me!!!!!"

"It's okay, Hiiragi-san. Call them to let them know what happened and that someone will be waiting with you."

Tsukasa slowly pulled the cellphone out of her pocket, sniffling miserably. "Y-You'll wait with me, Minoru-san?"

"Hai! I will not allow any harm to come about you!!!"

Tsukasa giggled. "Arigatou, Minoru-san!"

"You can just call me Minoru. It sounds kind of weird having a girl I've known since grade school call me –san." He smiled warmly

"Well, then, you can call me Tsukasa, Minoru-san!" The girl instantly slapped her hand over her mouth, realizing her mistake. "Ahhh, I'm sorry, Minoru-sssss…" She was just so used to saying Minoru-san by now. It'd be a pretty hard habit to break.

The train station, as usual at this time of night, was desolate. A few scattered people walked across the sidewalk.

"Tsukasa-sss… Tsukasa." He'd have to get into the habit too. "May I ask you something, please?"

"U-un!" she said, nodding.

"I… I think you're really cute and pretty and you have such a moe personality… so would you please go out with me???"

"U…un!" she nodded happily. "I've never had a boyfriend before, Minoru!" She managed to bite her tongue before she began the suffix.

"To be honest, I've never had a real girlfriend either. Akira-sama likes to think I'm her sex slave, but we never went out, and I never give it to her."

"So… what happens now?" Tsukasa asked quietly. "Are we supposed to kiss or something…? That's how I see it on TV and Konata's dating sims all the time."

"We could… I mean, if you want to! It's totally not my decision!" He blushed heavily, rubbing the back of his head.

"It sounds like Minoru-kun wants to, so I'm fine with it."

They awkwardly moved in closer to each other, sliding themselves on the bench, the space between their bodies dwindling. Eventually, they were close enough.

They both moved in at the same time, a little too quickly, and Tsukasa pulled back. "Gomen-nasai," she said, blushing embarrassedly. Suddenly, there was a smooth, gentle hand caressing her face.

"It's okay, Tsukasa-chan," he chuckled. He leaned in slowly, his eyes closing when his lips met their target.

* * *

I'd say next chapter in a few minutes, but God _knows_ you can't trust me on that '^_^ But I'll try!


	3. Broken Mikrofonez

Haha, see? I didn't lie this time ^^

As always, enjoy responsibly!

* * *

"Kyu! Kyu! Kyu! Kyu, kyu! Kyu!"

"I think that's a new record," Konata muttered around the strawberry pocky in her mouth.

"Gomen-ne, onee-chan!" Yutaka said, embarrassed by her adorable sneezes.

"Yutaka… how dare you apologize…" There was a glint of flame in Konata's eye as she reared up for the strike. "That's exactly what the majority of the fanbase likes to see! Girls who sneeze drop-dead adorably. So many moe characteristics to train, so little time…"

"Kyu! Kyu! Kyu!!!" Yutaka sniffled.

"But seriously, are you okay? You're sneezing and coughing a lot. You're not pushing yourself too hard, are you?"

"I'm fine!" she said smiling and rubbing her nose.

"Maybe you should go to bed early, ne? It is the beginning of cold and flu season, and someone like you needs all the rest she can get."

"Un!" she said, heading off to brush her teeth and go to bed.

**Meanwhile**

The door clicked ever-so-slightly, yet it managed to awaken Kagami. The tsundere instantly popped up from the staircase, bolting to rip open the door.

"TSUKASA!!!" she screamed, throwing her arms around her sister. "Oh my God, you had me so worried!!! Why didn't you call or anything."

"…I…I'm going to bed…" Kagami pulled away from the hug. For the first time she noticed Tsukasa's eyes were wide and blank. Her pale body was covered head to toe in blood and she reeked of it. Fresh blood trickled slowly down her leg. She was hunched over, as if she was about to pass out from exhaustion.

"Tsu… tsu… ka…" was all Kagami managed to sputter.

"I'm going to bed…" Tsukasa repeated. "I'm going to bed. I'm Tsukasa… I'm Tsukasa and I'm going to bed…"

She took one step forward and promptly fell over. Kagami managed to get a grip on her before she fell all the way down. Tsukasa now hung limply in her arms. "Tsukasa! M-M-M-MA-MATSURI!!!!!"

"Jeez, I'm in the middle of a level of Ouendan!"

"Tsukasa's covered in blood!!!"

The sound of a DS hitting the floor sounded as frantic footsteps ran about hallway down the stairs before jumping the rest of the way.

"Tsukasa!!! What the hell happened to her!?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know???"

"I'm Tsukasa… I'm Tsukasa…"

"Let's get her cleaned up, and then we'll try to get her back to her senses."

The two girls carried their younger sister up the stairs and into the bathroom. Matsuri undressed her as Kagami held the limp girl upright. They managed to pull her into the bath as the crimson coloring on Tsukasa's pale skin mixed with the steaming water.

"Make sure you keep holding her above water," Matsuri said to break the awkward silence.

"I'm not dumb, I know that!" Kagami snapped. "When I get my hands on whoever did this to my sister…"

"You'll let the justice system take care of it," Matsuri said calmly, gently washing the blood off her sister's skin.

Kagami didn't reply, instead dumping a bucket of water on her sister's head to wash the quickly drying blood out of the tips of her hair.

After washing all the blood from her, and a bit more senseless murmuring from Tsukasa, they finally coaxed her into bed.

"I'm Tsukasa… I'm Tsukasa… I'm Tsukasa…" the sleepy girl murmured. She promptly began snoring lightly.

"Well at least she fell asleep quickly," Kagami said as she smiled sadly. "I wonder what happened? She didn't seem to be injured, so it must've been someone else's blood. Did she roll around in a crime scene or something…?"

"I hope the police aren't going to be coming around asking questions," Matsuri groaned. "Tsukasa, what have you gotten yourself into???"

* * *

Lol, short, I know, but that's all I wanted in this chapter. I actually haven't written the next chapter yet, so it may take me a while to get back to this :)


	4. Freaxxx

I was gonna split this into 2 chapters, because I thought it was too long, but when I did, each of them were too short ;_; Oh well, at least I came up with another evil plot idea :3 Oh, hopefully I already mentioned that I have nothing against Lucky Star. I'm just doing this to destroy the world of a happy, easy-paced anime.

Kagami: Why must you torture us...?

Katon: OOH, THE PIZZA'S HERE!!! KTHXBAI!

Kagami: ...

Katon: Enjoy in moderation! ^_^

* * *

'_Jeez, where is everyone?'_ Konata thought as she stared boredly out the window onto the streets of Tokyo. _'Even Miyuki-san is late. I'll bet… no, it couldn't be!'_ A look of horror spread across her face. _'Everyone came down with the flu and didn't share it with me!!! What kind of friends are they, skipping school and not letting me skip too???'_ She anime-sniffled for emphasis. _'Then again, sensei probably wouldn't believe me…'_

Miyuki walked in the doorway slowly. As she made her way over to where Konata sat, she bumped into a few desks, apologizing to the people sitting at them.

"Yuki-chama, are you feeling okay?" Konata asked, sweatdropping. "You seem a little out of it. I mean, more so than usual."

"Hai, hai," she replied smiling. "I've just been having a few headaches recently, and they've been affecting my vision. I'll be perfectly fine after they subside, but thank you for asking, Konata-san."

"Un. Have you heard anything from Kagami or Tsukasa? They're not here yet."

"Iie, I haven't. My apologies."

"Didja hear about what happened to Sebastian?"

"Sebastian?"

"Minoru-san. Apparently he got beaten to death. And some people say they saw a girl covered in blood walking home murmuring strange things."

"Oh my! Minoru-san is dead???"

"Yeah! Do you think she was a diclonius? Just like in E***n L**d. I bet the girl used her vectors to make him explode into a million pieces like KA-LA-POW-A-BOOM!"

"Etou… possibly," Miyuki responded with a smile and a sweatdrop.

Kagamin wandered into the classroom right before the bell rang. She looked exhausted with lack of sleep and worry.

"Ne, Kagamin," Konata deadpanned, "you look like the devil ate you, chewed you up, and spit you back out. What's wrong?"

"Do you know how much I want to punch your fucking face in…?" Kagami growled, fists clenching.

"Woah, woah, sorry, I didn't mean it that harshly. Anyway, so what's wrong? And where's Tsukasa?"

"Like hell you didn't… Kasa's at home sleeping. She came home last night covered in blood, and she looked something awful. But mom made me come to school today. My oldest sister took a break from work to watch Tsukasa."

The other two girls were silent, with morose looks on their faces.

"Huh? What's with the looks?"

"Last night… Seba- I mean, Minoru was killed," Konata murmured.

"Oh no! How did he die???"

"He was beaten into a bloody pulp."

"That's horrible!"

"There was a girl seen walking home from the scene of the train stop where it happened. They say she was mumbling strange things and covered in blood."

"You mean Tsukasa…???"

"Yeah. She must've been there when it happened."

'_My sister's witnessed a murder… I KNEW I shouldn't have let her come home alone!!!!!' _Tears of bitterness welled up in Kagami's eyes.

"Kagami-san…" Miyuki murmured as Konata, for once in a serious state of mind, held the lightly crying Kagami.

The bell rang.

"Class, as you may have heard," Ms. Kuroi said as she placed her bag on her desk, "last night Shiraishi Minoru was killed. Any of you who may have seen anything are to report it to the downtown police office. Now, let's get into today's lesson."

'_If you're gonna be nonchalant about a student dying, at least make an effort not to sound so apathetic!' _Kagami thought, jaw dropped.

"Kuroi-sensei!!!"

"Yes Izumi-san?"

"I don't think I can work today knowing poor Seba-, er, Shiraishi is gone!!! It saddens me to no end!" She threw a hand dramatically over her forehead. "I don't know if I can go on without him…!"

"Think twice before using the death of a classmate to get out of school…" Ms. Kuroi and Kagami muttered in unison.

"S-scary…" Konata murmured.

* * *

After school, the three girls left for the train stop together. After waving goodbye to Miyuki when the inbound train arrived, the other two girls boarded the outbound train.

"It's pretty crowded today…" Kagami murmured.

"Never good for someone like me. Everything's so tightly packed that no one can ever see me, so getting on and off by myself is a nightmare."

"How could _anyone _miss that ahoge!? It makes up for about 2 feet or so…"

"Hey! The ahoge is NOT that tall!"

"No, but it sure as hell sticks out in a crowd…"

They arrived at the next stop. A ton more people boarded the train, causing the girls to be stuck tightly in the middle of a crowd.

"On the other hand, being this short means I seldom get groped by chikan!" Konata half-yelled, the catlike smile present on her face.

"Don't say it that loudly!!!" Kagami hissed loudly. "Your high pitched voice carries more than you think!"

Kagami felt pressure through her skirt on her upper thigh. She didn't think much of it until she felt a hand squeeze her. Her face went bright red and she bit her lip as the chikan fondled her backside.

"Kagamin?" Konata took a glimpse at Kagami's red face, then managed to turn her head enough to see the problem.

"CHI-KAAAAAAAN~!!!!!!!!" she yelled. The whole train car fell silent. Kagami's face went even redder at this. "Over there, in the green coat and brown hat, a groper!!!"

Mutterings of "Dirty old man…", "good to see a girl standing up for herself," and "how dare he do that to an elementary student…"

"Hey! I'm a 3rd year, and it wasn't me; it w-"

Kagami slapped a hand over Konata's mouth. "I think you've helped enough. This is our stop anyway. Let's go." Kagami ushered Konata quickly out of the train, but not before shooting a death glare at her chikan.

"That was SOOO embarrassing; what the hell was that for???"

"I still don't get why Japanese girls get too embarrassed to say anything."

"You were never too embarrassed? I mean, how shameful is it to get groped on a train??? I don't want anyone to know!"

"Well, the first time it ever happened to me, I didn't say anything, but then one time there was a semi-crowded train, and a guy tried feeling up this American girl, and she screamed 'CHIKAN!!!,' turned around, and punched him like BAM!!! I couldn't tell what she said after that; I think it was something like, 'Don't mess with America' or American girls or something. I promised myself from then on that if I ever got groped again that I wouldn't take it, but I never did."

"Well you got to live vicariously through me, so I hope you're happy."

"Are you gonna take Tsukasa to the police station like sensei said?"

Kagami's eyes snapped open. "I totally forgot about her!!! Aw man, I'm a terrible older twin, aren't I…? I probably will after she recuperates a little. It'll be a bit stressful for her now, y'know?"

"Un."

The two girls walked in awkward silence for a little while.

"Hey, Kona…"

"Hm?"

"Did you even ask to come over?"

"No, but you shoved me off the train."

"T…touché…"

* * *

Katon: ...;_;

THEY GOT THE CRAPPY PIZZA!!!!! WAH!

Everyone else: -headdesk- KUUKI YOMENAI!!!!!

Katon: Oh, haha, sorry '^^ -opens pizza box- Oh wait... this isn't the horribly bad kind! YAY!

Everyone else: -HEADDESK- You killed the atmosphere for no reason!

Katon: '^^ Maybe I should just go start on the next chapter... kthxbai!

Konata: At least give us some pizza! '=.=


	5. The Broken!

Sorry folks! I've been really busy this summer, so please excuse my tardiness!

I just realize how many muses you come across in life for a show like Lucky Star. But like Hiyori, they come as quickly as they go TT_TT

I though AutoSave betrayed me for a while! I added the part where Tsukasa was playing with the dolls, and I forgot to save before I shut off my computer, and in the morning it was gone! It discouraged me from writing for a while, then I realized AutoSave had not failed me, but I just had so many AutoSaves out of my own laziness that it was hidden amongst them XD

Here ya go, one super chunk, double-nut, peanut butter, fudge/caramel swirl chapter with whiped cream and a cherry on top ^_^ Enjoy (don't worry, it comes in hypo-allergenic too! ;)

* * *

"Oh, Izumi-chan! So nice to see you!"

Konata was greeted by Inori and Matsuri at the door of the Hiiragi residence with open arms, as always.

"Likewise. How's Su-chan doing?" Kagami asked, using Tsukasa's nickname from when they were too young to realize the difference between tsu and su.

"Well, she woke up, but she's not talking to anyone but mom and dad, and even then, it's minimal responses," Inori responded. "It's probably a security thing, and she may talk to you more than us, since you're twins."

"Okay. Mind if I try talking to her alone for a bit, Kona?"

"Not at all," she replied in her childish voice.

"Thanks." Kagami gave a small smile. "You know, you can be a pretty good friend when you want to."

"Aw, gee thanks, Kagamin!" Konata replied, imitating the gesture. She then turned her head, breaking her imaginary 4th wall. "But I don't want."

A vein pulsed in Kagami's forehead. "KY; kuuki yome!"

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

Yukari Takara hummed a tune just above her breath. Her chores for the day were nearly done, and with it being spring cleaning time, _boy _was there a chore list. She rapped lightly on Miyuki's door with her elbow, seeing as her hands were occupied with the laundry basket she was holding. "Miyuki-chan, do you have any dirty laundry?"

No response.

"Miyuki-chan?"

Still no response.

Yukari set down her laundry basket, her back cracking as she did so. _'I'm getting old,' _she thought to herself, a small, fleeting thought that soon passed, and she was back to her normal cheery self. She opened the door to her daughter's room, where Miyuki slept peacefully. Yukari smiled at her little angel as she snuck in to grab her laundry hamper.

Somehow Miyuki sensed the disturbance and woke up with a quiet groan. "Oka-san…"

"Ahh, gomen, Miyuki-chan. Are you feeling any better?"

"A little, thank you for asking. Wow, what time is it? I must've overslept because of my headache."

"Iie, it's only around 4:30."

"Huh? Why is it so dark?"

"...Miyuki, are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yes, I'm feeling better. Not at 100%, but better."

"What do you see?"

"Hm… nothing except for a few shadows. Like I'm looking through… a dark blanket…"

Silence.

"OKA-SAN! I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!!!" Miyuki wailed in desperation.

"Miyuki, please calm down!" her mother yelled frantically. She looked into her daughter's now teary eyes. They were both slightly clouded.

"I think we need to take you to the emergency room, darling." Her mother helped her out of bed and guided Miyuki down the hall, to the garage, and into the car, the entire time wails of, "I can't see!" coming from the sobbing rosette.

* * *

Nanako heaved a heavy sigh after downing the last of her heavily-creamed coffee.

"Jun-kun is so funny!" a young girl giggled in the booth behind her. The girl looked to be about 14, blonde hair cascading in curls down her back.

The girl across from her gazed longingly at the royal purple-haired boy who had just left the coffee shop. "I know, right? Man…-"

"You don't still like him, do you?"

The bright green-haired girl set down her tea after taking a long gulp. "Well… It's pretty confusing. It's like, you know how he has all these misconceptions about girls and how hard they are to understand, have too many complicated emotions, and are too expensive to care for? I guess I kind of still like him to be thinking about him this way, but at the same time, I just want to teach him that girls aren't as bad as he thinks."

"Yeah, I kind of get what you mean." The blonde looked down into her latte.

A moment of silence.

"It's like, dondake???" the green-haired girl said laughing softly. The blonde smiled back politely at the obvious attempt to break the awkwardness.

"Ma'am…" the waitress said impatiently.

"Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought," Nanako said, face blank.

"300 yen is your total." The waitress handed her the receipt, obviously not having much interest in small talk.

"Hai, hai." She reached into her pocket for her wallet, only to find her pocket empty.

"Ehhh?" She searched frantically for her wallet. Remembering she had left it in her evening jacket, her expression melted into a nervous smile. "Gomen… I must've left my wallet in my other jacket, ehheh…"

Needless to say, the waitress was unimpressed. A scowl began to creep across her face.

"Allow me," a deep voice said from behind the waitress. The two women turned their attention.

Standing there was a man with short denim-colored hair. He wore a dark green jacket over a white t-shirt and slightly baggy jeans a shade or two darker than his hair. He handed the waitress a 500 yen coin with a smile.

"Oh, um… thanks." A slight blush creeped across Nanako's face.

"No problem." The man slid into the other side of the booth. "I've never seen you around here before. New to the area?"

She smiled. "Nah, I've been livin' here for about 3 years now. I teach at Ryouou high."

"Ah. I would've guessed you were a college student. I'm glad you're older."

She blushed again. "Eh?"

"I mean, Japan needs some more pretty school teachers like you. Motivates the students, ne?"

She laughed. "Oh come on, I'm 27 and show every last bit of it."

"Like heck you do!" he said with a smirk. He turned and looked around nervously for a few seconds.

"Um… is something wrong?"

"Oh, not as of right now. I'm just making sure I don't get beaten to pieces by your boyfriend…"

"Haha, I don't need a stinkin' man!" She laughed loudly and awkwardly.

"Well… that's a pity…" he slid out of the booth and stood up, while reaching for his wallet. "If you ever change your mind on that, gimme a call." He slipped the sheet of paper into Nanako's hand. "I hope to see you around again sometime."

And with that he was gone.

* * *

Kagami rapped lightly on the ornate door to Tsukasa's room.

"'Kasa-chan, I'm ho-"

The door was promptly flung open by a wide-eyed Tsukasa.

"SISSY!!!"

Tsukasa flung her arms around Kagami's waist. "Sissy, Sissy, Sissy, Sissy~!"

"Calm down Tsukasa; you know I wouldn't leave you for too long," Kagami said with a loving older sister-like smile.

"But I missed my sissy…" Tsukasa murmured sadly.

'_Tsukasa… you haven't called me Sissy in years… not since we started first year of middle school.'_ Kagami thought worriedly. She threw on a fake smile. "Did you have a fun day today?"

"Yeah!" The younger twin walked back into her room. The whole 12x10 room was a mess, clothes and other miscellaneous items strewn wildly about. A landslide of old toys recently exhumed lay in front of the closet. On Tsukasa's bed laid Barbies, plastic baby dolls, and a porcelain doll who Kagami recognized as…

"Kimine!" Kagami's face lit up at the sight of her old favorite doll, a gift from her grandmother right before she passed away. "I haven't played with her in years! Are you having fun playing with them?"

Tsukasa plopped down in front of a small doll-sized kotatsu. Another porcelain doll and two Barbies pretended to warm their legs underneath the miniature blanket. "Yeah, it's tons of fun!" Tsukasa poured imaginary tea out of a miniscule tea pot into cups the size of a golf ball. "Uremi, stop that!" she said, scolding the brunette Barbie. "No scones until everyone has been served their tea." She poured what seemed to be the last of the tea into the porcelain doll's cup. "Okay," she said authoritatively, eyeing Uremi, "you may eat now. Please excuse me."

Tsukasa left the table and moved over to where a high chair was standing. A plastic doll baby with curly gold locks sat in the chair, her permanent grin smiling up at Tsukasa. The latter picked up a small bowl full of some unknown substance and a plastic spoon, specially designed for that doll.

"Open for the choo-choo! Chuga-chuga-chuga-chuga…" The "food" went down a small hole in the doll's mouth. "Choo-chooo! Great job!" Tsukasa beamed at the doll's accomplishment.

Kagami watched all of this unfold, straining to keep a smile on her face and tears out of her eyes. What happened to her sister that fateful night? What happened to Minoru, so gruesome that it would leave a mental scar so great on Tsukasa?

She pushed those thoughts aside for the moment. "Hey, sissy, would you like to see Konata?"

Tsukasa turned her head, nodding at her sister vigoriously.

"I'll go get her; I promise I'll be right back." Kagami kept the fake smile on her face, mirroring the doll baby's, until the door closed.

"What's the prognosis, doc?"

"She's pretty bruised, but I'm more worried about her psychological state. She's playing with dolls neither of us has played with for eight years. I don't mean just for the heck of it. She's all into it. Oh God… my sister's gone crazy."

"Let her play. It probably won't last long anyway. As long as it makes her feel better, playing with dolls isn't hurting anyone."

"I suppose you're right…" Kagami murmured.

"If it lasts longer than a few days you can always take her to the hospit-"

"NO. There is no way in hell I'm taking my sister to one of those wretched, God-forsaken places."

"Kagamin… what's wrong with hospitals?"

"We don't believe in them. They're a horrible environment to be in, they try to limit the time you have with your loved ones, they're impersonalized and dreary, and they…"

"They what?"

"They killed Grandma! Grandma was in the hospital for so long after she had her surgery… she nearly died on the table, and she was forced to die in one of those sickening places… she told us while she was dying that if she could do it all again she would have stayed home and died with us instead of doing the surgery…"

"That's a nice story, but do you have any idea how many lives hospitals save? The workers in hospitals do their best to make the experience as good and pleasant as it can be."

Kagami snorted. "They're doing a half-ass job, then."

Konata stared at Kagami in silence for a second with narrowed eyes, then turned back to her normal disposition. "Can I visit with Tsukasa for a while?"

"Oh, yeah, she wanted to see you."

"'Kay, thanks."

* * *

**Later that night…**

Nanako opened the door to her apartment. "I'm home…" she muttered groggily, to no one in particular. Although she had a cup of her favorite coffee earlier that evening, it seemed like the drink had had little effect on her. "Man, I was going to do some crazy gaming tonight after grading these damn tests..." She sighed tiredly, setting down her briefcase at her desk. "I really need to start giving 'em more multiple choice." As she removed her white overcoat, the man's number slipped out of the pocket. She bent over to pick it up, staring at the digits, debating them for a second.

"I'll call later. I probably won't be returning to that coffee shop, due to the lack of properly caffeinated drinks." She dismissed the paper by tossing it on her night stand, next to her cordless phone. "Now to work on those tests."

Nanako finished the tests in not-so-record-breaking time. After wiping up a spot of drool that came dangerously close to landing on Tsukasa Hiiragi's test, she looked up at the clock and almost fainted dead away. "How in the HELL did it get to be two in the morning!?!?" she yelled, throwing Tsukasa's not-so-record-breaking test on a stack with the others. After a quick tooth-brushing and face washing, all while changing into her pajamas, she clambered into bed.

After tossing and turning for a good forty minutes, she realized that-

"URGH! I can't sleep! NOW the caffeine kicks in." Giving a long groan, she left the comfort of her bed once more, stumbling blindly over to her computer station.

Wednesday, June 17

Urgggh, I can't sleep worth crap right now, so I figured I'd come and write something. My internet hasn't been working for the past couple of nights, so I've still been saving everything to Word documents.

I met this guy today at a new coffee shop I was trying out. This new place is a few blocks closer, and I've heard good things from our students who live in that direction. The coffee isn't nearly as expensive as the place I'm used to, and it tastes good, but there's not enough caffeine. Anyway, this guy came and talked to me. He's pretty cute, a little on the lean side of average, dark blue hair. He saved me from having to roll up my sleeves. Turns out I left my money in my evening jacket! '^.^ He paid for my coffee and talked with me a little before leaving. He gave me his number! Giving it a second thought, I will call him tomorrow. I mean, going to that shop is an excuse to have two cups of coffee right?

After adding more than a few more various details about her otherwise relatively uneventful day (which ended up being enough to make a quite lengthy document for an uneventful day,) she turned off the computer without saving the document. Writing was a perfect waste of energy for her, and she was now stone tired. Plus, that's what AutoSave is for.

The next morning her world turned blue.

"AAAAARGH!!! YOU ARE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!"

The blue screen of death flashed up with an error she didn't bother to read. She immediately rebooted, cursed at the "Safe Mode" screen very loudly, and made a beeline for Word.

And that was when Nanako learned that AutoSave is a conniving, backstabbing little bitch.


	6. So Hard 2 Take

Yo! I don't know if anyone else is like this, but I can only write when I feel like it. And when I feel like writing a particular story. Which really sucks. If I try to write when I'm not motivated, it comes out terribly. So instead of forcing writing, I decided to wait until I could write something decent.

I don't own Lucky Star. But I have an adorable new pet mealworm named ANDY! I think Andy may be a girl, but I have no idea and no way of knowing. So for now she is a boy. But he is failing to thrive. Probably because being a mealworm is extremely boring to her, and it's so damn cold in here that he is a little tiny mealworm-sicle. I know I am a human-sicle right now. So to make sure she's not dead, I flip him over and poke her teeny little adorable feet. He doesn't like that much. *shakes head* But at least I know she's not dead that way.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Monday… Monday… Monday…" Konata repeated the dreaded word groggily, opening her green eyes narrowly, letting in the colors of the sunrise. The horizon scorched the sun a bright red at its base, dissolving to yellow, and gently painted the sky and clouds orange.

"Sunrises are nice…" she rattled softly, her vocal cords likely still asleep, "but I prefer the cotton candy blues, pinks, and purples of sunset." She paused for a second, drifting into a shallow dream, waking up again in another 5 minutes when drool attempted to escape from the corners of her mouth. "Then again," she mused, her thoughts both delayed and random, "they don't call us the Land of the Rising Sun for nothing. That should be Africa though, because of that one scene from the beginning of Lion King."

Kona's random thoughts came to a close as she laid eyes on her closet, planning which bra and panties to wear today, a lame excuse she thought up to stay in bed. "Outfit planning" was as good an excuse as any to her father. "Man, it's gotta be hard on kids who don't have uniforms… maybe Nanako was right. I wonder if they ever 'outfit plan' like this.

"I guess I should get up…"

After finally rolling out of bed due to a sudden need to pee, getting dressed in an abnormally lacy bra/panty set even for Konata, who always liked to be ready in case a flag was triggered (she felt as if something good was going to happen today), and all the other necessary preparations, slowed down by the Monday lag, she finally arrived at school. In tow, she brought Kagami and Tsukasa.

"If you want to leave at any point in the school day, just let me know and I'll take you home, okay? The teachers are already letting you temporarily transfer classes, so I'll help you make today go as smoothly as possible, okay?"

"Kagamin, did you ask for a temporary transfer for 'Kasa's sake, or the fact that you still don't want to be alone-"

"WILL YOU DROP THAT ALREADY KONATA!?!?! Of course I did it for Tsukasa."

Tsukasa stared down at her shoes as she walked the halls, receiving stares and whispers. No one knew what to make of the incident with Minoru quite yet, in fact, not many of them knew much. They knew Minoru was dead, and there were rumors circulating that Tsukasa had been there. That was absurd though. What would ditzy Tsukasa be doing at the scene of a homicide?

During fifth period, it suddenly didn't seem so absurd.

"Webustaa-san, you have a couple of visitors." The voice belonged to the office assistant, who showed in two regional police officers.

Kagamin's heart sunk down somewhere around her lower bowel, and she became several shades paler. A few students around them began whispering quietly, not wanting to be heard by the officers or the Hiiragi twins. Tsukasa stared at the officers with a relatively relaxed face that was hard to read.

After a very brief conversation, Mr. Webster spoke up. "Tsukasa Hiiragi, please go with the officers."

Tsukasa stayed rooted to her seat, that situation-inappropriate look glued to her face, as if she didn't understand what she was supposed to do.

"May I go with her? I'm her older sister," Kagami questioned, keeping a solid face.

"Kagami Hiiragi?" Kagami nodded. "Yes, we have a few questions we would like to ask you as well."

The talk around the classroom escalated from whispers to a dull roar. "It's the great Hiiragi caper!" Kagami heard Konata say softly.

"If there weren't cops here you'd get your ass beat, sister," she grunted in reply. She turned her attention to Tsukasa. "Come on, I'll make sure I stay with you the whole time we're there. Let's go."

Tsukasa still remained rooted, the same look plastered on her face as she began to sweat. Her eyes slowly grew in size and suddenly, leaving all of her school books in the room, she bolted for the door. The cops weren't sure what to make of the short haired girl, who wasn't fast or strong, but somehow she managed to muscle her way past the two full grown men, sprint down the hall, and burst through the girls' bathroom door.

Kagami clumsily chased after her sister, who she found in a stall re-gifting her breakfast.

"Tsukasa!" Kagami didn't say a word past that. Somehow, with a leg in a cast, she maneuvered her way into the stall and held her sister's hair away from her face just before she hurled again.

"Sissy…" Tsukasa cried out. "Sissy, sissy si…-" She dry heaved a few more times, in between sobs.

There was a hesitant knock on the bathroom door. Konata slowly peeked in. "Are you two okay in here? Need anything?"

"No, Tsukasa will be okay."

There was a brief pause only penetrated by Tsukasa's cries.

"They want me to go to the police station too," Konata mumbled.

"Eh? Why would they want that?"

"Excuse me," an officer said from outside of the door. He had a strong, loud voice. "I know this is a very difficult time for you and your sister. However, as well as young Miss Hiiragi being tramautized, Mr. Shiraishi was killed, and his murderer is on the loose. We need your assistance to get this person off of the streets and to do justice for your two families so your sister can rest safely and Mr. Shiraishi can rest in peace."

"Can you handle it today, Tsukasa?" Kagami asked, rubbing her sister's back. She received a nod in reply. The other officer returned with a bottle of ginger ale and the three students set off, uncertain about what was going to befall them during a police questioning. Even the eccentric Konata was clearly rattled. However, Kagami sensed something different about Konata, as if she knew something unrelated but very important. She caught Konata glancing at Tsukasa more than once, a suspicious and worried look on her face.  


* * *

"You can't find anyone similar in these books…?"

Tsukasa shook her head ferverently. She, Konata, and Kagami were inside of an interrogation room, set with a simple mahogany table and two chairs. A folding chair had been brought in for Konata, and against her request, a wheelchair for Kagami. "I'm not an invalid…" she'd muttered under her breath when the "ditzy coffee-girl" had insisted.

The officer, a heavyset man in his late forties, heaved a stifled but heavy sigh. "Perhaps we can get details from your account of the event. Would it be okay if I had your sister leave the room for a few minutes?" Tsukasa's eye got wide and troubled at the thought of her sister leaving. "Don't worry, she'll be in that room right over there, behind the glass." He pointed to a small viewing room to his left. It normally had a one way window, but that had been retracted and an average, noise-proof window was left standing. Tsukasa nodded a bit hesitantly. Kagami was wheeled in and parked by Konata, who was brought the folding chair by the officer. The door closed behind both girls.

"Ehhh, it's nice to get out of school, but this is seriously a bother..." Konata whined miserably.

"You know something, don't you." Kagami said, point blank, not even waiting for Konata to fully take her seat. "Something related to the murder. Tsukasa's in danger, isn't she? What do you know, and how do you know it???" She continued before giving Konata a chance to respond. "If you know something, you better tell me, because God help me, I will never forgive you if something else happens to my little sister."

"I'm sorry Kagami, but don't waste your breath," Konata snapped without raising her voice, not making eye contact. Kagami was angrily taken aback by Konata's retort, but she kept quiet, aside from narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth. "If Tsukasa's in any danger, I don't know about it. What I do know is that she lied." Konata looked up at Kagami, waiting for a response. Kagami didn't give one and wasn't making eye contact either, so Konata returned her dark gaze to the ground. "She lied about the identity of the murderer. I can't prove it, but I'm sure that she did.

Konata leaned back in her chair and shifted her gaze from the floor to one of the few in-set lights that decorated the otherwise plain ceiling. "Tsukasa is already too meek of a person to rat somebody out. Under this pressure and knowing she's dealing with a murder, I have a feeling that she's eventually going to blame Sebastian. She'd go for the safest option: say the dead boy caused all the problems. She'll lie and say he attacked her, she blacked out, and when she woke up, he was dead. That story would sound plausible, except that they didn't account for-."

"This is no time for one of your damned game references!"

"I'm not making one. I was there."

Kagami's breath became ice in mid exhale, the blood draining from her veins, and just as quickly, all was replace with fire.

"You _what?_" she spat.

"Before you go totally insane, listen-"

"What the FUCK!!!"

Tsukasa and the interrogating police officer turned their attention to the room quizzically. They couldn't hear much, only where Kagami put emphasis on her words as she went off on Konata. The blue haired girl had an annoyed look on her face, but kept silent, with her hands in the air. Without calling for backup, the interrogator left his seat and went to remove Kagami from the situation. After mumbling a few words about "causing a scene" and "arrest", the officer calmed Kagami enough to make her shut her mouth. Konata could be seen heaving a sigh of relief. Kagami was brought into the main interrogation room, and offered a bottle of water which she politely accepted. As politely as you can be while gritting your teeth in fury. Tsukasa simply looked on curiously, not particularly caring about the reason why Kagami was mad at Konata; happened all the time, didn't it? She was just glad that her interrogation was over, for however little time.

Two more cops entered the room within the next 10 seconds, a female and male. The balding officer approached the other two, who began to converse in low voices. Another 10 seconds, and the original officer turned around and faced the window, where Konata was sitting, lost in thought.

"Izumi-san," Konata perked up at the sound of her name, her eyes wide with some emotion atypical of her, "these two would like to talk to you."

Her eyes, still flooded with emotion, narrowed. Silently, she got to her feet, grabbed her jacket, and left with the two officers. The officers didn't know Konata, and Kagami was too busy brooding to notice, but Tsukasa did. The door clicked shut behind the trio.

"Well, if… _none _of these men match the description of your attacker, you and your sister are free to go, Hiiragi-san. Thank you for cooperating.

Tsukasa nodded without making eye contact with the officer. "May I ask you something."

"Erm, sure, miss."

"Where are you taking Kona-chan?"

"Miss Izumi is believed to know a few details relevant to your case. She'll be released in a short while."

Tsukasa nodded blankly again. There was an awkward silence. Those seemed to be becoming the norm these days.

"Well, thank you, officer, we'll make sure to contact you if she remembers anything," Kagami said, hooking her left arm around Tsukasa's right.

"Thank you. Please sign out at the front desk."

* * *

"The hospital???"

"Yes. Officer Fujisouka assessed some concerning things about Tsukasa's behavior. He believed it would be best if she were taken for a mental and physical evaluation."

"W-we'll see to it," Kagami smiled politely, hoping her obviously fake smile was convincing enough. The last thing her sister needed was a bunch of doctors worrying her. "Tsukasa, ready to go?"

The younger twin nodded, and stood up, heading toward the skybridge door, which linked the police station to an underground walkway that connected with other nearby places on the map and lead them all to the metro. Kagami gave a quick shallow bow to the receptionist and caught up with her sister.

_'Hopefully…' _Kagami thought as they went their way towards the trains, _'We'll never have to come here again.' _As the adjacent walkways conjoined to become one, she turned to look at the wall to her left. An arrow pointing in the opposite direction read, "Hospital". _'And I certainly hope we never have to go there.' _She changed her attentions once more to her sister, who was trying to avoid stepping on the cracks between the concrete panels of the walkway while humming some tune under breath. _'But_ _somehow… I just don't see it working out that way.'_

_

* * *

_Until next time!

~Katon-chan


	7. True Love

Yahoo! Time for another chapter! Enjoy in moderation!

* * *

"_Happy half-birthday Hikage!" _

"_Half birthday??? Who celebrates a half-birthday? I'm a sixth-year, not a kindergartener!"_

"_Oh…?" Hinata looked slightly depressed, but she knew all hope was not lost. "But I made a reservation at that steakhouse down the street and everythi-"_

_Hikage's jaw hit the floor. "STEAKHOUSE!?!?!? Y-y-y-you mean like… MEAT!?"_

"_Yeah… but since you're too old for your twelfth and a half birthday…"_

Hikage had decided that she was indeed too old for her half birthday, but she wasn't too old for real, prime, grade-A meat, so she claimed that she wasn't too old, and now she had just finished the best meal her her life. She hadn't bothered with the nice entrees with lots of fancy ingredients, and instead chose a 12-ounce New York Strip with pork rinds and broccoli on the side. She couldn't finish the entire thing, and chose to eat the broccoli and the rinds first so she could save the steak and eat it later. She fell back onto the booth bench, stomach full to the bursting point.

"Gochisosama-deshita!!!" she cried loudly, turning a head or two. "That was the best meal I've ever had! This half-birthday thing is good stuff! Thank you, sis!"

"Anything to make Imo-chan happy!"

"If you hadn't bought me this, I would totally resent that," she smiled, sitting up in the booth. "Wait… how _are_ you paying?"

"I did the guy who owns this place a favor," Hinata beamed.

"GOD sis, don't tell me these things!" Hikage gaped, sweatdropping. "Just lie or something!"

"Oh Heavens, not like that! All I did was hook him up with some free manga, and he offered me a free meal, then he let me bring you."

"Well, sweet deal then! How many books did you give him?"

"The entire Death Note series."

"Hinata!!! That costs a lot more than what we bought!!!"

"But… he was being so nice… I couldn't pass it up."

"Mou… well, at least we got the eats," Hikage sighed. She began collecting the take-out containers. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, let's."

* * *

"…Like that middle schooler over there," Misao said to Ayano, pointing to the blue-haired girl as she left the restaurant. "That hair color would be awesome on you."

"I agree," came a deep voice from behind Ayano.

"Mihiro!" Ayano cried, spinning around and practically jumping over the back of the booth.

"Hey babe," he smirked, giving her a quick hug. The PDA was quickly interrupted by the throat clearing of the manager, who stood at the end of the row, leaning his heavy frame against the wall. Mihiro gave a nervous smile and an apologetic wave in his direction. "Sorry, Tenchou-san, won't happen again…" He turned his attention back to Misao and Ayano, who was receiving intrigued stares from the former.

"So, I take it you two kinda know each other, hmmmmm?"

The two others blushed. "Mihiro's my boyfriend," Ayano said , hiding a shy grin.

"Sou, sou," Misao nodded. She sat up in her bench, left leg on the floor, the other kneeling on the seat.

She stared at Mihiro from about a foot's proximity for a good six seconds. She retreated slightly, then nodded again when this time was up.

"You win this round; no flaws found yet. But I swear," she pointed a finger to the sky, right foot now firmly planted on the bench, "I will prove that you are not suitable for my daughter!"

"Ehhh… I have no comeback for that…"

"AHA! A flaw noted! This will go down on your permanent record-"

"Misao, if you keep going like this, I won't have a boyfriend by the end of the night," Ayano said, casually sipping her water.

"Saved by your girlfriend…" Misao grumbled… "I'll let you go for now."

"See you two girls later! Gotta get back to the rest of my tables."

"See ya!" The two replied in unison.

"I swear you try to undermine me sometimes," Ayano smirked, patting her mouth dry with her napkin.

Misao gave a click and the "cool-guy-point" with one hand. Someone's gotta keep 'em in line, sweetheart. "Now, back to that electric blue hair color-"

"Not happening."

* * *

"Hospitals aren't _that_ bad, Kagami-san."

Kagami stared at her phone with half-annoyance, half-dissappointment.

"Jeez, of all of the people I thought would fear hospitals! I was hoping for a story about a bad encounter at the hospital."

"Ah, that is a fair assumption," Miyuki said in a happy tone. "I have spent a lot of time in the hospital because of my eyes. Like I said earlier, they fixed it, but there are several follow-up treatments."

"Hospitals are sooo troublesome…"

"It's not necessarily fun to be in the hospital so often, but the staff are very friendly and nice to me, so it would almost be like having a vacation if I weren't being monitored and getting injections so often." She sighed. "I hate needles so much…"

"I bet they're _really _rough with them too, aren't they?"

"Actually, they're very gentle. Even when I was getting anesthesia, I barely felt it." She giggled again. "The sympathetic pain you feel beforehand is much worse than the actual pain. You remember, don't you? You had to get an anesthetic shot when they set your fibula back into place, didn't you?"

"…"

"Kagami-san? Are you there?"

"Yes… But I'm slowly dying inside."

"I think a mental evaluation on Tsukasa would be a good idea. This must be a great deal of trauma on her. Even if nothing's wrong, and I hope nothing is, being able to talk to someone would be good for her.

"That's what I'm here for…" Kagami grumbled.

"I-I apologize in advance if this is offensive," Miyuki stumbled on her words, hesitant to speak her mind, "But I believe your overprotectiveness of Tsukasa is getting in the way of what's best for her. In your heart, you know that this is good for her, but your brain is clouding your better judgment."

"I guess…" Kagami muttered.

"In fact, I highly suggest you take her as soon as possible. I am sure that the police could get you an appointment any time you would like."

"I guess," she repeated. "Okay, I'll give the department a call before my sisterly instinct kicks in again. Thanks, Miyuki. Hope everything goes well with your eyes."

"Thank you. Good luck!"

Kagami pressed the "End Call" button on her phone. She found herself slightly confused as to why she was standing on her bed, scratching at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling. Must've happened sometime during her conversation. Didn't matter anyway. She fell straight backward, letting her arms fly out to her sides. She lay there for a minute or two of procrastination. Eventually, something in her forced her to get up and make her way downstairs.

"Dad," she called out. Her dad sat in a recliner in the den, reading his newspaper. Inori and Matsuri were sprawled out on the floor, Matsuri lazily laying on the ground, hands behind her head and eyes closed, Inori on her stomach looking over a list of bones in the human body.

"Yes?" her dad responded.

"Can I talk to you in the other room for a second, please?"

"Fibula."

"Ummmmmmmmmm, in the lower arm with ulna, isn't it?"

"No, you're thinking of the radius. Fibula's in the lower leg with the tibia."

"Ugh, WHY do I have a biology major??? Why why WHY?????"

She and her father moved to the kitchen and away from Matsuri's despair-fest, where she explained what the receptionist had said at the police department.

"Well I agree fully." He sighed. "I never understood your mother's problem with doctors. They can't fix every problem. But if you don't give them the chance, things typically end up worse. Sure, I'll call right way and set up an appointment."

"Thanks, Dad." Kagami turned to leave.

"Oh, and Kagami?"

"Yeah"

He placed a gentle hand on her right shoulder. "This is very brave of you, to come and talk to me about medical care for Tsukasa. I know that you and your mother feel similarly on the doctor situation, and it must be very difficult to decide that your sister needs help despite your ill feelings. That's a very mature thing to do."

Kagami gave a small smile in return.

"Thank you" was all she could muster.


	8. Still Waiting 4 U

No time to comment; 45 minutes of free internet at Houston Airport about to run out, plane gonna board in two minutes, need to use restroom, kthxbai!

* * *

"Iwasaki-san?"

"Sorry for the intrusion; is Yutaka here?" the softspoken first-year carried with her a large bag, probably full of get well gifts from Yutaka's friends.

"Ah, sorry, she JUST left to run to the store to get some more tea with Yui, but they'll be back soon if you want to wait."

"Please," Minami said as she bowed slightly. Konata opened the door so she could come in, shivering as a gust of winter air followed. She quickly shut the door behind her.

"I just made some tea, would you like any? It's deathly cold out today." Konata didn't receive an answer, as Minami was now transfixed on the program currently on TV, an American show where they showed people getting plastic surgery. A woman was receiving a consultation for a liposuction, tummy tuck, and brachioplasty.

"Ah, should've know that should would catch Minami-san's eye," Konata said, snapping Minami back to reality. The blue-haired girl took the liberty of pouring her guest a cup of tea anyway. "Just struck me as the kind of show you might take interest in, since you're always worried about your size."

"T-that's awfully straight-forward..." she stammered as she shied herself up against the wall.

"Ne, mind if I ask a personal question?"

'Since when do you ask before doing that?' she wondered, but nodded in reply.

"Is there any particular why you worry about it so much?"

Minami was silent in thought as Konata brought the tray of tea over, trying to decide what the best response to her question was. There were many answers to that question, but she picked the one she knew was the most likely. "Come on under, the kotatsu's nice and warm."

As she slipped under the blanket, "My first love..." she murmured under her breath, the words taking on an almost magical air.

"First love!" Even Konata was taken aback by this revelation. She had never seen Minami as the type of person to pay much attention to romance. 'I thought this girl was as open as a book; why did I see her kuudere nature but not apply it to romantic endeavours?' Konata thought randomly.

"It's embarrassing, so..." Her face was now flushed red.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'm all ears," she said as she wiggled her ears, prompting a small smile on Minami's face

The smile quickly faded as she began her story. "Middle school... there was a boy who was the president of the Intramural Sports Club..."

"Iwasaki-san, you're up to kick!"

Kickball had always been Minami's favorite sport, and no matter what, she made sure that she had no obligations on the days they played kickball. The first-year middle schooler kicked the sand off of home plate and analyzed her field of play, as her teammates in the dugout cried her name, knowing she would be the one to bring their team to victory.

* * *

"Go, Iwasaki-san!"

"You can do it, Minami!"

First and third were occupied, with an inattentive second baseman. This was going to be easy, as long as she could stop the ball short of the center fielder. The pitcher, who had had a cocky smirk for several players, dropped his facade for Minami. He delivered a fast pitch that wasn't exactly what Minami needed but she worked with it and rocketed the ball toward her target.

Unexpectedly, the second baseman came to life as Minami kicked the ball, but went with instinct and dodged the ball coming straight at her face. Minami's heart dropped as she realized she had put too much power into her kick; the center fielder dove for the ball and held it in his hands for a few devastating milliseconds, before fumbling it. The girl on third safely passed home and Minami and the boy who was on first rounded their respective plates. Grabbing the ball for a second time, the center fielder lobbed the ball to the second baseman. Minami skidded to a halt and turned back toward first, as the second baseman hurled the ball with all of her strength-

*BLAM*

The next several minutes were in and out for her. She recalled her name being yelled, the sound of sneakers running on sand, being asked if she was alright, being carried down the school's hallways by someone warm and who smelled good, and then...

Minami's eyelids flickered as her eyes tried to find a suitable amount of light to let in. Nevertheless, "It's bright..." she murmured.

"Ah, Iwasaki!" A deep and familiar voice spoke. Turning her attention toward the person next to her bed, she found the club president, DS in hand, but the game paused and his undivided attention on the waking girl.

"Sogodani-senpai..." The shy-as-ever Minani felt her face get hot.

"Are you alright? Do you need the nurse? Uh, she stepped out for a bit, actually, but... If you need anything, let me know, I'll do my best!"

"No, I'm fine, thank you. What happened?"

"Hirikima-san threw the ball at you. She says she didn't mean to, but I was watching her. She had a really malicious look on her face; she was mad for almost getting hit."

"I see... Did... did you bring me here?"

"Y-yeah, since I'm the president and all it's my job to make sure the members, especially the officers, are alright."

"I see..."

* * *

"After that, I began paying more attention to Sogodani..."

* * *

"Ne, ne, Shihou!"

"What's up, Kazuma?"

Minami always sat with a group of a few other girls at lunch, and engaged in light conversation them. However, being a girl of few words greatly hindered this, and when she stared off into her thoughts, none of the others questioned it.

"Check this shit, new J-15! They got this American girl to pose naked as the centerfold, my GOD is she a blonde bombshell or what?"

'Sogodani-sempai is into ecchi?' A look of surprise and slight disdain crossed Minami's face.

"Kazuma, there's no way she's nak- EHHHHH?"

"I KNOW, look at the funbags on this girl; they say she's a 36DD. I knew you'd appreciate this, being the breast man you a-"

Shihou swiftly dragged down Kazuma and placed his hand over his friend's mouth. "Way to announce it to the whole school, fucktard!"

"Whatever man, like it matters. This school is made of horndogs. Half the sluts here have already had plastic surgery."

"SLUTS!"

Kazuma felt the chill of a death aura behind him. He was correct. There stood his girlfriend, Hinako Hirikima.

"Eh-"

She gave him no time to respond, instead dragging him out of the lunch room by the ear, making sure to fling his copy of J-15 hard against the wall behind Shihou.

Minami could hear the conversation down the hallway for a little while. "So you think that I'm a slut for getting a breast augmentation and my face tweaked a little? Well you SURE didn't seem to mind it..." However, she was more focused on watching Shihou smirk to himself, and grab the magazine, slipping it inside his schoolbag before greeting his friends who were just coming in with their lunches.

"EARTH TO MINAMI-CHAN!"

The sixth-year nearly jumped out of her seat when her name was called loudly by Ayano.

"Sorry, Ayano-sempai..."

"No biggie," she said, showing her trademark warming smile. "You seem awful focused on Shihou, though."

'The one day they notice me when I zone out had to be today, didn't it?' "It's not like that."

"Hmmm? You sure? I mean, it's only natural. When a guy carries an ill girl damsel-in-distress-style to the nurse's office, sparks are supposed to fly!"

Minami's heart pounded in her chest and her pale face flushed tellingly. "It's not like that, sempai..."

Ayano smiled and sighed slightly. "Y'know, if you were any other girl I would say that blushing is a telling sign that you like Shihou-san, but as shy as you are, I can't tell. Still, even if you aren't, Shihou's a very nice guy. We went to the same elementary school, and he's quite the gentleman. Aside from his obsession with big boobs, he's amazing."

When she received no reply, Ayano looked over at her kohai to see her blushing even more, but with her head bowed. "Yeah, you probably don't want to talk about it now, or maybe not even with me. But listen, I may not be a big sister to you like Miyuki-san, but still, know that you can talk to me about anything you want. Especially dealing with this; I have a boyfriend, afterall."

She received a "Thank you," along with a small nod in reply.

* * *

"Aha, so your first love is a breast man. Yeah, your first love can be a dangerous thing. Depends when it happens, but usually your romantic interests shape around them to the point of absurdity. What ever happened to him?"

"We went to different high schools, and last I heard of him he'd moved further north."

"I see... That's a tough one. Are you still..."

"...I feel like I shouldn't, but I would like to know if he would go for me if my size increased."

"Minami-chan, don't change yourself for anyone!" Konata got a half-joking-half-serious look on her face. "Someday a man will come along and love you for you, body and all! Of course, you may not like him back, but that's another story for another time."

Tires squealed down the road, a telltale sign that Yui was almost back home. She loved to try to catch air on the nearby hills.

"Izumi-sempai, how many guys have you... been involved with."

"Well, I've liked a bunch, there were only two that I loved, one of whom I almost lost my virginity to in tenth year, and I've had two who loved me, who were best friends, and that got ugly. So yeah, I've had my share of guy drama. But it all cooled down after tenth year, so since then it's been smooth sailing in singles land."

Minami was unnerved by the fact that Konata had come close to losing her virginity but played it cool.

"Yo, we're back!" Yui yelled through the side door of the house.

"Yahoo~!" Yutaka mimicked after her sister's usual greeting.

"Ah, Minami-san's here, Yutaka! You two go up to your room and you get back in bed."

"Alright! Thanks for coming to visit, Minami-chan!" Yutaka said in her sickly but adorable voice. Minami stood up from under the kotatsu and went to join her friend.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a little better today, which is why I got to go out to the store. It's great to finally be able to get out of the house."

Before they rounded the corner, Minami looked back and made eye contact with Konata. Green eyes closed and Konata gave her cat-like grin. A small smile graced Minami's as she nodded in response.

"So, what did you and Konata do?"

"Talked for a bit," she replied vaguely.

"Oh, cool. She didn't give you any weird questions, did she?"

"It's alright, I'm used to it. Plus, it was quite entertaining."

"Hm?" She didn't press the matter any further. "Well, I'm glad you had fun!"

"Yutaka... since you've been sick so often, did anyone ever carry you to the infirmary?"

Yutaka smiled as she thought back on her experiences in middle school. "All the time. For some reason a lot of guys had a wish to carry a girl princess-style to the infirmary. I guess when something happens in manga and anime a lot you can't help but want to do it in real life. Oh, by the way, do you want to stay the night? I would really appreciate the company, and I'm not contagious right now."

"If it's alright with your family, I would love to give you some company."

Minami and Yutaka spent the night together catching up on the smaller girl's homework and talking about events at school. Minami ended up accidentally falling asleep on Yutaka's bed, and she let her rest there and herself slipped into the dream world.

The next morning Minami was woken abruptly by sputtering choking and coughing, and looked up to see her best friend seizing.

"NARUMI-SAN! IZUMI-SAN! CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

* * *

Yeah, J-15 was supposed to be the name of a magazine I heard of one time that has ecchi pictures of underaged girls, but I couldn't remember what it was called ._. Not to be confused with the actual magazine J-14. If anyone knows the name of it, please tell me! Anyway, I've started the next chapter (actually I started it back when I first started the story, but the story went longer than I thought it would) and this time I actually have ideas, so hopefully it will be up soon.


	9. Taking Lyfe from Me

._. I feel like this chapter is really dry at the end. I really don't like the end but I'm tired and couldn't find a good stopping place, plus demands for an update meant I wanted to get this done AQAP. I actually had planned to post this on 4/17, but I started writing more AFTER I uploaded the document while I was reading through it. Then, I decided to delete what I wrote and do it in the next chapter.

And thanks to HolyRiot11's particular demand for more chapters, I was so depressed that I not only went to eat a cheeseburger, I also got mashed potatoes and ice cream ;_; With a Reese's Cup mashed in Q_Q. Speaking of which, does anyone else get kiddie-sized ice creams then eat them with a sample spoon? It makes them last so much longer ^_^

I suggest you enjoy with a sample spoon!

* * *

"Narumi-san! Please slow down!"

When she's in Yui's death trap of a car going 130 down back roads is one of the few times anyone will ever hear Minami scream.

The dark, concentrated glare let Minami know that Yui wasn't listening and wasn't _going_ to listen. She was practically underneath the ambulance, she was so close. Every move the driver made to avoid other civilians, Yui was mimicking perfectly, like a ghost in a close time trial race.

"Na-ru-mi-saaan!" Minami finally gave up, clinging onto the hanger rack with one hand and the seat belt with the other, taking a glance at rather green-tinted Konata who had her face buried in a motion sickness bag-

"How is she! Kobayakawa Yutaka!"

The pink haired, black eyed receptionist looked up at the sudden arrivals who had loudly burst through the doors of the E.R.

"Narumi-san, we all just got here, she's probably still in the ambulance..."

"Please have a seat and we'll have someone come out shortly- erm..." Before the receptionist had finished her sentence, Yui was halfway down the hallway searching doors.

"Um…" Minami murmured softly, "I apologize for her reckless nature."

"Oh, don't worry." The kind receptionist smiled in return, releasing her embarrassment slightly. "We're used to it. We would prefer if you wait out here, but... I'll let you go in if you try to calm down your friend."

"Go ahead," Konata gurgled choppily, her stomach still spinning from their wild ride, "I'll fill out the forms and stuff; I need to sit down anyway." She received a nod and Minami took off at a jog to find Yui and Yutaka.

Minami followed the sounds of Yui's wailing down the hallway to ER Six. In the room, she was shocked at the sight of her best friend surrounded by so many nurses, trying to cool her off, get readings, and attach various methods of life support.

"What!" a nurse with lime-green hair exclaimed as her jaw dropped. She had just been handed a sheet of paper by one of the paramedics as they left the room. "How is she still alive! These readings aren't compatible with life! Stabilize her heart rate and make sure that IV's ready to go!" she barked, her sharp eyes demanding dominance. "Where is Azame with the meds! We ordered those five minutes ago, that incompetent little-"

As if on cue, a clumsy nurse with short brown hair and glasses burst through the entry, accidentally shoving Minami aside and almost spilling the tray of syringes she was carrying.

"Sorry! Um, I got the medicines-"

"About time! Let's get these in... And Tsuki! Kaede! Get. Her. Sister. Out. Of. Here!" She didn't even bother to look in Yui's direction, she simply swatted an annoyed arm at her.

Tsuki and Kaede had already put aside their duties to deal with the hysterical Yui. "Narumi-san..."

Minami said in her small voice as she joined the nurses and timidly knelt by her side. "Please, we have to leave the nurses to their work."

She didn't receive a reply, only more high-pitched sobs.

"Narumi-san, they have to get back to work, or..." she placed a hand on her, which was quickly swatted away. "DON'T touch me!" she growled.

"Narumi-san...!"

No reply.

"Narumi-san!" Minami yelled uncharacteristically loudly. Azame the nurse jumped at the sharpness of her voice. "Your crying is probably distressing Yutaka and you're in the way!"

"I WON'T just leave my little sister!" the red-faced Yui yelled tearfully. "Fuck that!"

"Narumi-san, how would you feel if they were distracted by you and they made a mistake and she DIED?" She hissed the last word for emphasis. The response was that Yui stopped crying momentarily and started to give Minami a nasty glare, but she knew the kid meant well. "You're making a fool of yourself."

"I'm making a fool of myself..." she said in between sniffles. "But... It's a big sister's duty to do that sometimes to protect her little sister!"

"HOW IS SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR CRYING PROTECTING ANYONE!" Minami's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth, taking a look over at her hospitalized friend when she heard a disturbing series of beeps from the machines and through the commotion, she could have sworn she heard Yutaka groaning in distress.

"That's it, you're jeopardizing I'm calling security if you're not out of here in fifteen seconds!" The green-haired nurse stormed toward the opening to the hallway, ready to carry out what she had promised.

Minami regained her composure and her flushed face returned to its normal pale hue. "Yui-san, do you want to be kicked out of the hospital?"

"...Fine..." Yui rose to her feet and walked calmly out of the room while drying her tears with her shirt sleeves. Minami followed, and took one last glance at her best friend before she went though the doorway. Wires and tubes now consumed her.

_ "She looks... she IS so helpless... I wish I could take the pain away... she must be so afraid..."_

* * *

"So there's nothing to be afraid about, alright Tsukasa? I'll be here for you."

The two sisters walked through the main level of the hospital, Kagami hobbling along with her injured ankle in a boot. As usual, she refused the assistance of a wheelchair, insisting that she was fine walking and it would make it stronger.

"Sissy... please call me sissy as well, or Su-chan..." Tsukasa replied disappointedly. Kagami gave a small internal sigh of worry. "Sorry, sissy."

Both twins' dispositions took an one-eighty, Tsukasa once again bubbly, and Kagami with a bitter taste in her mouth that manifested itself in one snide word.

"Oh..."

She couldn't have missed the blue ahoge in the gift shop crowd; it stuck out like a sore, swollen, broken thumb. A prickly feeling of annoyance and adrenaline washed over her automatically, a reminder from their last encounter.

"Oh!" Tsukasa also said, but with an opposite implication. She ran right up to her friend and hugged her, catching the shorter by surprise, but when she realized who it was, "Ah, Tsukasa!" "Kona-chan! I haven't seen you in like, a week! What're you doing here?"

"Yui's health went downhill, so we called an ambulance. I'm just buying some ginger ale; Yui drove like a street racer to get here." Even Kagami's hardened face showed a little empathy at Yutaka's illness. _"That girl's constitution is awfully weak... is she going to live much longer?"_

Tsukasa looked like she wanted to cry. "That's so sad! I'm so sorry, Kona-chan, I hope she'll be alright. By the way, what happened at the police station that one time? What did they want?"

The sudden change in subject and mood (_'Teary to inquisitive in 2.8 seconds,' _she thought) caught Konata off guard. "Oh, uh, they just wanted to know what I saw, which wasn't much at all. Just a girl in our school uniform and some guy being ushered into a van by some big, muscular guy. I didn't realize it was you and Sebastian, or else I would have done something. I'm sorry." She turned toward the other twin. "See now why I didn't make a big deal out of it, Kagami? It wasn't like I was there, saw Tsukasa and Sebastian get hurt, and didn't do anything. Plus, I knew from the beginning that my deets wouldn't help anything, so that's why I never said anything. So're we good now?"

"...I guess. I'm still very upset but that anger is unfounded, so I'll get over it eventua-"

She felt skin press against her face and realized that Konata was rubbing her cheek against hers. "That's my Kagami~n!"

The tsundere leapt away from Konata's hug. "I SAID EVENTUALLY! YOU'D BETTER BE GLAD WE'RE AT A HOSPITAL, KID!" It took all of her composure as well as gritted teeth to avoid actually yelling this. She scoffed and grabbed Tsukasa by the wrist, her anger finding a new rationale in Konata's touchy-feeliness. "Geez, you break my ankle, then you let my sister be involved in some sort of murder, and then you still come back and act like everything is normal! Come on, sissy, we're going to be late."

"See ya later, Konata! Say hi to everyone for me!"

Konata waved goodbye to her friends, _'I'm proud of you, Kagami. You're doing the right thing and being a good sister.'_

* * *

"This one is so pretty..." Tsukasa murmured dreamily as she delicately eyed a ball-jointed doll. It was one of several in a curio cabinet in the office of Dr. Hikari Saito.

"Ah, thank you. I like her a lot too; I purchased her at a store in Kyoto." She paused for a moment, analyzing Tsukasa's fascination. "You really like dolls, don't you?"

"Yes, I really do! I think I like playing with them more... oh, but ones like these I'm fine just looking at. They're too pretty to be played with. Plus I like playing with the baby dolls more, because I'm going to be a mommy someday."

"I see. Have you always loved dolls this much?"

"Well, um..." she took a glance at Kagami, who was sitting in a chair against the wall near the door. She received a small smirk from her twin-tailed twin. "I liked them when I was little, but I started really liking them again about... two months ago."

That was simpler than expected. "Oh, did something happen two months ago?"

"Yeah, I got a boyfriend. Except... he died really soon after..."

Kagami's breath hitched in her throat. _'SHE! MINORU! …..HUH?'_

"Oh no... I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"Well..."

* * *

Their lips broke apart after about four seconds, leaving both of them with a warm, fuzzy feeling. It was Tsukasa's first kiss, and even without any tongue, one of the nicest Minoru had ever had.

"How was it?"

For the first time, she was able to look into his kind, olive green eyes. Her heart felt like static. In school he had always taken being the class dog and even on Lucky Channel... She had always thought that maybe, if he had someone who was there for him, someone who was like him, maybe... maybe his life would be a little more enjoyable. Hers certainly would. She never realized though, that behind his fragile exterior, there was a confident, take-change man. So attractive...

"Amazing..."

She suddenly found herself feeling very drowsy. "Ah, I'm sorry..." she slurred, "I guess I'm just tired..."

"No worries," Minoru smiled. "Here, let's go to the other side of the station, and if you want, you can take a nap and I'll wake you up when the train arrives."

"Alright... Thank you, Minoru." She flashed him an smile, and they headed out of the stop and toward the bridge to the other side.

"So what were you doing around school this late?" she asked, pushing through the turnstile and walking on the narrow sidewalk.

"Oh, I live near here. There was a situation at home and I come here when I need to diffuse."

"Excuse me," a deep voice said to their left. A white van had just pulled into the bus lane; a man spoke from the driver's seat. "I'm afraid I've lost my way, and I was wondering if you two could help me."

* * *

"After that he got out of his van to show us some maps, but I can't remember anymore. After that I remember waking up in bed the next morning. Oh, actually that isn't the truth... I remember feeling something between. It felt really painful, but after the pain it felt good. I don't remember what it was from though."

Kagami wanted to comment, but she had been asked not to say anything.

"Did you go inside of the van at all?"

"I don't remember... we may have, I also remember it being dark, so maybe."

"I see... did the man... touch you at all?"

"I can't remember, but I have a feeling that he never did. That's just what I feel. I feel it sometimes when I go closer to the metro stop. It helps me remember a little more."

"I see..." Dr. Saito muttered again, taking a moment to read her findings on her clipboard. "You say you remember darkness and pain, then pleasure... are there any other feelings, or sights, sounds, smells that you can recall that happen when you come closer to the metro?"

"I'm having a hard time remembering..." Tsukasa gripped her forehead with her index finger and thumb, and Kagami instinctively moved to the edge of her seat.

"Tsukasa, you must try to remember. Anything at all can help find who killed Minoru."

"I thought this appointment was supposed to be about Tsukasa..."

Dr. Saito's attentions turned toward her client's now standing twin sister.

"I'm sorry Doctor," she spoke in a voice that sounded more demanding than resentful, "I know you told me not to speak, but I was under the impression that this appointment was about my sister, not the investigation."

"I'm sorry, Kagami-san. I am a doctor who works very closely with the police, and this is required as part of any psychiatric visit of a person who knows details about a murder.

"Then why were we not informed of this before the appointment? They tried to deceive us, didn't they?"

"Kagami-san, I'm sure that this was just a misunderstanding-"

"Misunderstandings don't occur under circumstances like this, Doctor. I'm sure the police do this enough to know good and well what they are doing. Excuse us, please." She turned to her sister. "Sissy, we're going now. We've talked with the doctor long enough."

"Kagami-san, please don't be rash. Your sister is suppressing very important case details-"

"If Tsukasa says she doesn't know, she doesn't know. Please be respectful of the situation. Let's go."

"I hope we can talk again, Saito-sensei!" Tsukasa waved as she was pulled through the doorway

Hikari didn't have time to give a response before Kagami shut the office door. "I do too, Tsukasa-san."

* * *

Kagami had a lot to think about on the way home. She was honestly a bit disheartened that she had given the hospital another chance and it had let her down. Even though this was moreso the police's fault, she still left the building with her hopes dampened.

"What happened to my sister..." she murmured on the wind.

"Hm? Did you say something, Kagami?"

"It's nothing."

* * *

Geez, what's with everyone causing ruckus, especially Kagami? She must really be on edge, plus she hates doctors. Poor girl :( Anyway, I have very little idea what's to come next time, but I have an idea of where I want to go, at the very least. The next update will probably be a very short chapter, and it'll take at least a couple of weeks (end of the school year: OH YEEH! First year of college: DONE.)

(P.S. HolyRiot11, I'm just picking on you for fun ^_^ You seem awesome, from your message.)


	10. Dirty Little Secret

Warning: The following rant is the author's attempt to make conversation because no one would listen to her otherwise. Go to the story while you still can.

rantLol, sorry for the false alert. I uploaded the chapter without editing it by accident '^_^

This chapter isn't that long, but that's because originally I had more content about our favorite pink-haired freshman, but I decided to leave that to next chapter. So next chapter will be almost entirely about her, and it will probably be a little shorter than most. Also, be warned that after next chapter I may take time to work on another long story for the site. Hopefully it will be as popular ^_^ I honestly don't even know how popular this one is, but I get quite a few [Favorite Story] things in my e-mail, and that's good enough for me!

Still don't own Lucky Star. But I am about to own a condo :D Well, my aunt is, but I'm the only one who'll be living in it, so close enough!

Also, today I found out that Arcade Gannon from Fallout: New Vegas is gay. And I wanted to cry. Because he is so adorable and I would so have a crush on him if I were there. I like him too much to even do yaoi parings with him Q_Q/rant

* * *

"Ah, the Hiiragi twins," Nanako noticed as she saw the lavender-haired duo walk past the cafe. As usual, Kagami appeared annoyed about something, and her sister had a goofy grin on her face.

"Hm?"

Nanako turned back toward Tetsuo, her denim-haired table partner. "Those are two girls who used to go to the school I teach at."

"Ah, Hiiragi as in the one involved with the murder you told me about?"

"Yes, that's the short-haired one."

"They stopped going to school?"

"Sorry, poor phrasing. The long haired one, Kagami, still attends, but Tsukasa is being homeschooled."

Out of the corner of Tetsuo's eye, he spotted bright green hair. Turning toward the source, he smiled. "Oh, here comes our daily dose of junior high love."

The kids who were at the coffee shop the first day Nanako went turned out to be regulars. Jun and Reika, the girl with green hair, would show up almost every day, him calmly drinking down a coffee and leaning against the window while she nervously sat upright, sipping on hot chocolate. Most days, Haru, the blonde, would join the two, and after Jun left she and Reika would talk about their situation. Nanako and Tetsuo would frequently pretend to be having their own conversation, but actually be listening to the middle schoolers converse about love, and afterward would look back on their own young love lives and laugh.

"You know though, for middle schoolers, they're not badly versed in love. I was at least seventeen before I was as mature as they are about it... as mature as that is."

"I'm pretty sure that I was in a permanent 'boys are icky' stage until I was about fifteen..." Nanako gave a nostalgic sigh.

"That sigh sounds like it has a story behind it. First love?"

"Well, you could call it that. I think that's a story for another time though. Unfortunately I have to head out early and grade these papers... I've put them off for too long and the students are getting frustrated."

"Ah, I more than understand."

"H-hey, Jun..."

"Hm, what is it, Reika?"

Instead of getting up, the two adults tuned in to the conversation behind them.

"I was wondering... I know you think girls are really troublesome, but... I know I can prove you wrong! So... please... give me a chance! I'll be the best girlfriend I possibly can! I've been reading up on how to be the perfect Yamato Naideshiko, so... please, be my boyfriend!"

Reika had not been the poster child for "quiet" during her confession, so by this point the noise level had gone from a dull roar to a few hushed voices. All ears and most eyes were on the oblivious teenagers.

"Hmmm, I'm gonna have to say no, but I was wondering if you wanted come to the store with me after this. I need to pick up some bread and cheese."

At this point, the dead silence of the crowd clued the teenagers in. "It got quiet..." Jun murmured, rubbing the back of his purple-haired head. "Eh? Reika? Come on, don't be like-"

She half-placed, half-slammed her nearly empty hot chocolate mug on the table. The stark contrast of the sharp noise and the silence made several nearby parties jump. Red-faced, the humiliated girl quickly grabbed her schoolbag and ran out of the restaurant. When the door shut, most people went back to murmuring amongst themselves, some shooting glares toward a now very uncomfortable Jun.

"I'll talk to you later tonight, Nanako-san. I think this boy could use some pearls of wisdom."

The blonde smirked in return. "Don't impose too much. I'll see you later." And with that she was out the door.

* * *

"BYE-NIII~!"

"We're clear."

"..." As usual, Akira's facade came crashing down once the mini-show was over. In the past few weeks, however, instead of screaming for a decaf vanilla latte as usual, or screaming at her co-host (Daisuke had permanently taken Minoru's spot), she had wordlessly and irritably grabbed her pack of cigarettes to grab a quick smoke before one of her parents came to collect her. She hoped it was her father, though. She didn't feel like dealing with her little sister. The pint-sized, lilac-haired tyrant was a reminder of what she had been at her age...

She lit the cigarette and took a long inhale. She heard the alley door close, then open again. Probably just Itou. He came out and smoked when he was having trouble with his fiancee.

"Akira-san."

She turned her head to face Daisuke. "What is it, Ono?"

"Look, I'm not trying to be nosy, and I know you're upset. But, even for you this isn't a normal grief response."

She narrowed one eye. "...What're you getting at?"

"I'm just going to take a stab at this. That night, Minoru was at your house. You were trying to have your way with him-"

"H-how do you know this!" she stammered. "What the fuck!"

"I was at a friend's house. He lives right behind you, and you left your window open. Anyway, Minoru wouldn't comply. I heard you yell at him to leave. So, my guess is that this is why you're so upset. In which case, that's dumb." He now had the girl's full attention. "If the last thing you did with someone is fight, there's no way to fix that. But Akira, how many times have you and he fought?"

Akira's rugged attitude faded slightly. "A lot."

"Exactly. A hell of a lot. And every single time, battered and beaten as he is, he's come back to you. He doesn't need this job, Akira. If he hated you that much, he would have left a long time ago. He obviously likes working with you. And having you as a friend."

"..." He received no reply but for Akira to focus on a crack in the wall on the other side of the alley. "I guess you're right, Ono. But, sometimes being friends isn't enough." She dropped her cigarette on the dirt, and walked past her cohost, back inside to freshen her breath before her family came.

Daisuke sighed and crushed the cigarette with his heel. _'That girl is a spoiled brat... this could be a problem, seeing as it'll be awful hard to get his love now.'_

* * *

_"Hey, Nanako, sorry I missed you, I guess you must be in the shower or something. I was going to ask you something at the cafe today, but after what happened between those kids, it just didn't seem like the right atmosphere, y'know?" _He chuckled lightly. _"I was wondering if you'd be interested in going out on a date with me tomorrow? Just text me back; if you say yes, I'll be there at eight to pick you up. Goodnight and sweet dreams."_

She could not hide the grin the voicemail put on her face, and since she was alone she had no reason to try. "Yes!" she had texted back, after deciding that a clusterbomb of exclamation points, which, in her defense, more accurately reflected her mood, was too childish.

"This is the best day EVER!"

* * *

Kagami placed a hand to the frigid window for a few seconds, leaving a steaming handprint when it was removed. Bored on this quiet Saturday morning, she watched the condensation disappear before breathing on a different spot on the window. She curled her hand into a fist and pressed the pinky side against the window, then made five little dots above the print. The resulting mark greatly resembled a baby's foot, at which she smiled. Her own foot had been free of that God-awful boot for a few days now.

"Sissy," a familiar voice called from the hallway, footsteps headed toward her room, "I was going to wear this outfit to the movies, but it doesn't fit right anymore."

Kagami twisted her mouth in thought. Her sister had been gaining a lot of weight recently, and even though she seemed to have a preference for loose clothing in the winter, she could see the gain in her face.

"Come on in, let me see."

He sister stepped in in one of her favorite outfits. Her much-loved yellow turtleneck and a faded denim overall skirt. But something was terribly wrong. Tsukasa could no longer get the overalls over her obviously protruding stomach.

An immediate wave of dizziness and panic crashed over Kagami. _'Oh fuck. Oh FUCK!'_

"I can't get it over my st- Sissy? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah!" she said, going with a chipper voice. She had to think quickly. "Say, Su-chan, did you take a bath last night?"

"Nah, I didn't get a chance because I was so tired after we studied."

"Let's go take a bath together, like old times, alright?"

Tsukasa's face glowed. "Really? You'll do that for me? You always say no when I want to take a bath with you!"

"Well, I feel bad denying you, and now I don't have to worry about my foot, so let's go!"

Kagami ran the water, and when the bath was ready, the two girls took off their clothes. Kagami was able to examine her sister's body. It was undeniable. Her breasts were about half a size larger, her nipples and areolas darker, and her stomach was swollen, with a faint brown line running downward from her belly button. There wasn't any need to go to the doctor or even pee on a stick.

Tsukasa was pregnant. Probably about three or four months along.

"Sissy, please don't stare... I know I've gained some weight, but that's mean..."

"No, you look fine!" she lied through her teeth. "Come on, before the water gets too cool."

After their bath, Kagami ran straight to Imari.

"Didn't knock much?" the surprised woman asked, but dropped the matter when she saw the panicked look on her sister's face. "What's wrong?"

"TSUKASA IS PREGNANT!"

"WHAT!"

A holler and some stumbling around down the hall indicated that Matsuri had also heard the news. The door to her room flung open and she was in her older sister's in less than a second.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS! ...WHAT!"

"I'm serious as a heart attack! She came into my room because she couldn't fit into her outfit, so I looked at her and she's undeniably pregnant!"

"Oh my God... are you sure?" Imari asked rhetorically, faintly. "How could we have missed this?"

"Well she hasn't exactly been wearing form-fitting clothes." Matsuri argued in their defense. "Hell, I thought she was just getting fat! But Imari! How could YOU not have noticed; you've been around her the most!"

"Hey, don't go pointing fingers, Matsuri! Kagami has been around her as much as I have!"

Matsuri groaned loudly. "Oh God, Mom and Dad are gonna flip! Why didn't she SAY ANYTHING!"

"The worst part is that I don't even think she knows. She was acting like she'd just gained some weight."

"Where is she now?"

"She's in her room trying to find something to wear."

"I'll go talk to her. Matsuri, run to the store and grab her some prenatal vitamins-"

"Why not send Thing One to-"

"NOW."

And the second oldest was out of the house in a flash.

"Kagami, call mom and dad and let them know what's going on."

"Okay."

Kagami ran to the closest house phone while Imari went in to talk with Tsukasa. She tried her mom's cellphone first, but didn't receive an answer, same with her dad's cellphone. Next she tried the shrine phone.

"Hello?"

"Mom!"

"Kagami? What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Tsukasa is pregnant!"

Silence on the other end for a beat. "What...! How..."

"I took a bath with her today, and there's no question about it."

"Did you have her take the pregnancy test I gave you?"

"No, but she doesn't need it. She's very obviously about three or four months pregnant; she's even got a bunch of the same signs auntie did when she was pregnant."

"Alright, I'm coming home right now. I'll call your father and tell him, but make sure she takes the test just to be sure."

"Yes ma'am."

In their haste, neither of them said goodbye before hanging up the phone. Next, Kagami rang up Miyuki and told her the news and that they would have to cancel their movie trip. When she got off of the phone, she buried her head in her hands, tightening her fists so hard that any hair that had the misfortune of being caught between her fingers was painfully pulled.

"How could we not have known?"

* * *

FINALLY, the titular story actually shows up!

The chapter title this time (obviously) isn't by the same group as all of the other ones. I ran out of relevant ones XD

Eventually I'll make a little side chapter about what happened between Tetsuo and Jun, if anyone is curious.

Stay tuned for next chapter! Starring Yutaka! ^_^


	11. Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder

Sorry '^_^ Writing's something I tend to slack off on during the summer, and I think this chapter's pretty short. I'm working on the next one right now though, so enjoy in moderation!

* * *

Several weeks later...

"You wouldn't think coming to the hospital would be such a downer from all the relatively content family members you see in anime and manga... We could really use Miyuki with a fruit basket right now."

Konata took a breath of the sanitized air that had become so familiar over the past several weeks and sighed it out. Coming into this place was like rigging lead weights to her mood and leaving it to drown. Thankfully, this would be the last time she would be coming to this place. After her last medical treatment in the evening, Yutaka would be transported back to the Kobayakawa household...

_ The doctor bowed deeply and maintained a professional but sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry Mrs. Kobayakawa, Mr. Kobayakawa. Your daughter has many underlying medical problems that have severely stunted her ability to recover from this cold. She now has severe bronchitis and pneumonia, and even with an artificial diaphragm, her lungs are far too sick to maintain her body's level of demand."_

_ "There has to be some sort of machine that can oxygenate her blood for her!" Mr. Kobayakawa spoke up. His wife clung miserably to his arm for support._

_ "She is on a ECMO machine right now; that oxygenates her blood, but she will need a lung transplant within the next few weeks if she hopes to recover-"_

_ "Of course we'll do the transplant!" he yelled._

_ "Honey, please calm down!" his wife pleaded in a weary voice. "Doctor, how much will this cost?"_

_ When he said the dollar amount, the wife and husband hugged each other in grief. "Even with our insurance..." The end of her sentence was lost to sobs. "Even with loans, there's no way we could ever pay that much..." he murmured._

When Yutaka's classmates and friends heard of her severe illness, they got to work organizing fundraisers, asking people around the community to help, and asking non-profits to assist them. Even the Iwasaki, Takara, and several other prosperous families helped out. However, soon into their efforts, they came to realize what they were too gung-ho in the beginning to notice: there was simply no way to raise 40 million yen in weeks. Instead, they took the significant amount of money they _had_ earned to purchase a prototype device that passed air by Yutaka's vocal cords and allowed her to speak, something she could not do very well with her diseased, fluid-filled lungs.

As everyone fought for her and waited, her condition further deteriorated. The doctors were forced to remove her dead lungs and rely solely on the ECMO to oxygenate her blood. In the periods when the young girl was awake, she would give her weakened but no less heartwarming smile to everyone around her, as well as a few encouraging words.

Konata waved to the receptionist, one of many she'd come to known over the weeks, and strolled on back to the hospital room.

"Ah, Konata-chan," the blue-haired girl was greeted with a hug from her aunt and uncle into the flower, card, and stuffed animal-filled room. "You've come to be with Yutaka on her way home?"

"Yeah," she replied blankly, looking at her cousin. _'There's no fight left in her...' _she thought as she stared at the thinned, corpse of a girl, willing away the burning sensation she felt coming to her eyes.

A nurse came in at that time and put a syringe in the IV machine. "The transport crew will be here shortly," she said softly before bowing and leaving with a sad look on her face. Everyone who came into Yutaka's room was that way now. Konata hated it. Her cousin had always been such a cheery person, and this is not what she would have wanted to cause. She shook the thought from her head, upset with herself for thinking about her cousin as if she were already gone.

Yutaka stirred in her bed, opening one sleepy eye to see her mother, father, sister, and cousin next to her bedside. _'Please don't look so sad...' _she thought to herself. No one had said it outright, but Yutaka was a smart girl, and she knew. She knew she was being taken home so she could die comfortably. The idea was scary, but her only regrets were that she hadn't taken better care of herself when she was sick. _'If I had been good and stayed in bed... I wouldn't have hurt anyone... I'm so sorry... mom, dad, sis, Konata-chan, Minami-chan...' _Tears came to her eyes, which she quickly shut so her parents wouldn't see.

The transport crew arrived in about a half an hour, and very shortly, the family arrived at the Kobayakawa home. The crew wheeled her into the dark, quiet house.

"SURPRISE!"

There before her stood all of her friends and family, putting on their happiest facades.

The ecstatic grin on Yutaka's sunken face was priceless. "Everyone..."

Yui's face also lit up when she saw the oh-so-missed face of her husband. Yutaka's classmates swarmed her cot, showering her with little gifts and quickly ushering the transport crew to her room. "Honey! When did you come home?"

"I got here about half an hour ago," the denim-haired man smiled as he rushed to the side of his partner. "I had to come see my favorite sister-in-law and wife. I missed you so much..."

"Oh Tetsuo..." His name rolled off her lips dreamily, before meeting his lips in a quick kiss. "It hasn't been too hard on you, being away, has it?"

"It is difficult, but when I think of the stable future I'm building for you and our future family, I can make it through each day."

Yui smiled and buried her face into his chest. "Thanks so much for being here for our family..."

He held her tightly to him and smiled. "Yeah."

* * *

The girls were all extremely happy to see their friend again. Although the house was a good hour away from the region of Saitama-ken where they all lived, it was no problem. Patty and Tamura had wasted no time in making themselves comfortable on Yutaka's bed, while Minami sat on the side, taking up as little space as possible.

"Yeah, I've received many love confessions," Yutaka said, answering Tamura's question with a sheepish smile. She continued as Patty and Tamura mused about how that was so anime cliché. "One guy sprayed some cologne on his, but my nose is all messed up, so it really stank!"

All of the girls had a good laugh at this. "This trimester sure has been rough," Tamura commented, "but I'm so glad Patty suggested the cheerleading routine."

"I know, right!" The American girl piped up rather loudly. "And you guys didn't want to do it in the beginning!"

"Ehhh? I clearly remember someone getting lazy about it and having to get a verbal beatdown by their senpai," Tamura smirked.

Patty sweatdropped embarrassedly and ignored the comment. "We were so popular! I can't believe we even got news coverage!"

"The quality of the amateur video they received was also quite impressive," Minami added. "I didn't know someone would bring such a good camera.

Yutaka gave one of her blush-and-smile expressions. _'That "someone" was definitely Uncle Sojirou, but I don't want to say any-'_

"Yup, that would be because my dad's a pervert and he didn't want to miss any details during our high kicks," Konata was leaning against the doorway and in the hallway behind her, her father was melting in embarrassment. Patty and Tamura laughed and Minami blushed heavily. When the latter turned away in her shyness, she noticed Yutaka's eyes drooping.

"Ah. We don't want to tire you out, so you should get some rest. May we come by tomorrow?"

"Why don't you guys stay over?" Yutaka said. "I want to spend as much time as I can with you. I don't have much of it left, and you are the best friends I've ever had. I never made any lasting friends in junior high, so I'm so..." Yutaka grabbed her chest and gritted her teeth. The four girls rushed to her side. "Yutaka! What's wrong?"

The small girl looked up with tears dripping from her cheeks and a big smile on her face. Her voice wavered happily as she shakily pressed the button that passed air through her throat. "I'm so glad that even though I'm..." she tried instinctively to sniffle, but this only caused her more chest pain due to the absence of lungs. By this point, the three freshmen had tears in their eyes, Minami dangerously close to spilling over. "Even though I'm always sick and out of school, and such a burden, you all stick by me and you're such amazing friends...! I've been so lucky to have you this long... My life has been made so happy..."

"You'll never be a burden to us!" Patty was the first brave enough to speak with a voice now broken. "You're such a sweet girl despite it all, and you bring so much sunshine into our lives... Sometimes I think you're part human and part angel already... and now your angel friends and family are getting too tired of waiting for their turn with you..." This line brought Konata down too. Tears spilled over her cheeks.

"If I were to die right now, in this instant, I would be so happy..." Yutaka murmured. "Surrounded by my friends and family."

"We're not ready to let you go just yet," Tamura yelled, removing her fogged glasses and swiping at her tears. "I couldn't bear it if you left right now, surrounded by a bunch of crying friends. You deserve better than that!"

"I... We... treasure you so much, Yutaka... I don't think you could go without us crying," Minami whispered. Yutaka sniffled and buried her face in her sleeves and began to sob quietly. Tamura hugged her to her.

"But still, Hiyori-chan is right." Konata grinned, having dried her face, but her eyes were a light tell-tale red and her eyelashes were still clumped together. "We need to quit crying and have some fun! Yutaka deserves to party!" She ran over to the stereo and flipped to "Motteke! Se-ra Fuku"

The group's mood instantly brightened as they all began forgetting for the moment about sickness and death and began rocking out in their places and singing about school uniform skirts.

"AIMAI SAN SENCHI...!"


	12. Viva La Vida

'Allo! I meant to upload something sooner; I started writing this chapter over winter break, but I didn't bring the file back to school with me, and I didn't want to re-write it.

I'm sorry if this chapter feels a little preachy. I'm not trying to make a point one way or another about abortion; Matsuri and Inori simply have differing views on it. Mine don't make it into the story :3 I thought it would be interesting if they both had very strong, opposing views.

And I'm sorry for anyone who was hoping I'd continue on with Yutaka in this chapter; you're going to have to wait for chapter 14 for that.

Also, the winner of the first chapter's cookie contest is from an Anon review named "taking a guess". The chapter names for chapters 1-9 were songs by BrokeNCYDE. Congratulations! I was starting to think no one would ever answer it XD If someone else already answered it and I missed it, please let me know so I can ship the cookie to the correct computer.

Enjoy!

* * *

~~The night before last chapter's events~~

The silence at the table was overbearing.

Matsuri boredly drummed her fingers on the kitchen table, observing the second hand on the gem-encrusted watch around her right wrist. Their mother had demanded they all be ready and waiting at the kitchen table when she arrived from work, though it'd been ten minutes since she'd said she would be home in five.

Either way, the brunette sister couldn't help but sneak glances at Tsukasa, who sat diagonally across the table from her, absently-mindedly playing with a soft-bodied, plastic-faced doll. Tsukasa and the doll wore matching pink, small floral-designed dresses that the pregnant girl herself had stitched with love, although her own dress now stretched tightly around her protruding stomach.

She also took glances at her other sisters. Inori, to her left, who was pounding away on her phone, sending frantic texts, probably to their father, who was undoubtedly by this time rushing home from work himself. Kagami, directly across from her, hung her head in thought, purple ponytails drooping over her shoulders as if they shared her current mindset.

As Tsukasa began to braid the doll's plastic black hair, the light from Matsuri's watch caught her eye. "Oh… Mat-chan," Matsuri jumped to attention, caught off-guard, "what a pretty watch!"

"Huh? She raised her eyebrows in confusion for a second before Tsukasa's words made sense. "Oh… thanks."

"Where'd you get that? I don't remember you having one like that… or really being a fan of watches…" Tsukasa trailed off.

The subject was dropped as the sound of hurried footsteps came closer and closer to the house. The door was hastily pulled open and shut, and the thud of shoes hitting the ground clumsily preceded the appearance of the long, royal purple-haired matriarch of the house.

"Oh Tsukasa…" she said in a combination of a pant, a sigh, and exasperation, as she rushed over to hug and examine, then hug and examine again, her youngest daughter. "Oh honey, why didn't you say something?"

"Mom, the results of the test were positive-" Inori started, but was cut off.

"Kagami was right; she didn't need the test." Miki placed a hand over a surprised Tsukasa's stomach. "Sweetie, how did this happen? When did this happen?"

"Um… I dunno? But I started getting morning sickness—I think they call it—a couple of mornings after Minoru got killed."

The thought "boyfriend" instantly popped into Kagami's head when her deceased classmate was brought up again. "Tsukasa, Minoru didn't…"

"Hm? Didn't what?" Her sister looked at her confusedly, waiting for her to finish the sentence.

Kagami took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, biting her lip before asking, "In the van… do you remember what happened? Did Minoru touch you in any way?"

Matsuri was about to open her mouth and say something, but she was silenced with a wave of the hand from Inori and a look from her mother.

"Hm?" She twirled her doll's hair as she thought. "Well, I don't really know… I mean, I don't think the man who wanted help did anything, so maybe. But what does that have to do with my baby?"

"Did you know about it, Tsukasa? Did you know you were pregnant this whole time?" Inori murmured, leaning over the table, fixated on Tsukasa.

"Of course!" Tsukasa said, furrowing her eyebrows lightly, uncharacteristic of her current disposition. "Why do you think I was practicing with all of my dolls?" Her eldest sister placed her face in her palm and groaned. "I want to be a good mommy when my baby comes."

The four others looked at each other without saying a word, but all knowingly thinking the same thing. Looks were enough to convey that none of them were sure what to do about the child.

"Kagami, Tsukasa, will you go play upstairs for a bit?" Miki asked softly. "I'll make your favorite dinner, just please head upstairs."

Both twins shot incredulous looks toward their mother. Tsukasa spoke up quickly. "Awwwh, but I want to be included in what you're talking about! I'm not a kid anymore, mommy!"

Kagami's sentiment was the same in her own case, but she agreed with keeping Tsukasa out of the conversation. However, before she could say anything, her mother interjected. "Girls, I need you to do me this favor, alright?"

"But-" the youngest tried again to protest.

"Now, Tsukasa."

"Well, I guess I could use a nap…" Tsukasa yawned as she got to her feet, her short hair swishing around her face as she stumbled tiredly for balance. Kagami resisted the urge to contend her mother's judgment, and followed Tsukasa out of the room.

Once the younger Hiiragis were out of the conversation, Miki took a seat at the head of the table, and the three remaining women shot each other gazes screaming with concern and worry, hoping to find solace in another's eyes, but finding none.

"I never thought this would happen," Miki spoke first. "One of my girls…"

"There's so much pressure because of the shrine," Matsuri murmured. "No matter how shameful being a young mother is, dad would never have it…"

"Are you saying you're thinking of having the baby aborted?" Inori retorted with a sudden loudness. After being shushed by Miki, she spoke again in a lower tone. "Matsuri, where the hell did all of the guidance-!"

"I know, I know!" her younger sister hissed. "But what's more important, our beliefs, or our sister's well-being-"

"There's nothing good for the 'well-being' of an 18-year-old about murdering her unborn child-!"

"Oh my GOD, think with your HEAD for a second, Inori! Look, I know you think abortion is wrong and all. I got the same upbringing as you did. But we live in a place where an unmarried, pregnant 18-year-old is going to catch her a lot more grief than aborting the baby!"

"I can't believe this," Inori spat bitterly. "I knew you were the black sheep of the family, but this-"

"Inori!" The sharpness of the word from her mother's mouth hit her like a jolt of lightning, and made her blood run cold.

"What, mom, didn't you _hear _her!"

"I did, thank you very much. But Inori, what's ethical isn't always what's best."

The young woman was speechless. There were several jaw-gaping seconds of silence before she managed to sputter, "W-WHAT! Mom, you would KILL an innocent-"

"My dear, you sound like a broken record," Miki warned before continuing. "Yes, the belief that your father and I tried to instill upon you is that abortion is not good. But unlike your father, who believes that it's completely wrong, I believe that it is a last resort." Apparently, this was news to Inori, whose eyes only got wider and jaw more slacked. "This aside, I will NOT hear either of you discuss it as an option unless we are out of others. Understood?"

For once, Matsuri was the one to agree, and Inori was the one with the spark of mutiny in her eyes. "It's not an-"

"INORI."

The woman chewed her lip in bitter rage.

"What about adoption?" Matsuri posed. "I hate to propose this, but that Christian missionary church has a program that helps girls discreetly through the adoption process. We could keep her hidden until she has the baby, then give it up for adoption."

A bit of pensive silence overtook the table. "It feels kind of wrong to rely on _them _for support." Inori spoke through twisted lips. "I'm sure there's a better way that doesn't involve going through a different religion. Plus, what about just keeping him or her? Pretending he or she belongs to me?"

Miki stood from the table, and headed over toward the tea kettle. "You're not married though, Inori. Nor is Matsuri, and your father and I are too old for another child."

"Not really," Matsuri argued, "Women are having children into their fifties nowadays. You could just call it a 'miracle child'-"

"I WISH YOU WOULD STOP CALLING MY BABY AN 'IT'!"

A far-away shout drained the blood from the faces of all three women at the table, and a slightly closer gasp was heard as the room got dead silent.

"H-honey, go back upstairs to play with Kagami!" Miki yelled upstairs

"Kagami's not upstairs; she's on the stairs eavesdropping on the conversation! But she shouldn't have to be! And I shouldn't be up here! I should be at the table, talking with you about MY options! You know why? Because I am eighteen! EIGHT! TEEN! And no matter what is going on around here, I always get treated like I'm five, and have no understanding, or say, in what happens!"

There was a momentary pause, while Tsukasa stopped to take a break. Heavy footsteps were heard pounding down the staircase.

"Did you ever think, for a SECOND, 'What does Tsukasa want to do? What's her opinion on what's going to happen to her body and her child?' Not at all! I'm sure it was more like, 'Oh, dumb little Tsukasa can't make such a big choi-' No, don't 'Sissy!' me!" she interrupted herself, presumably in response to Kagami attempting to calm her. She entered the room, Kagami on her heels with fear and worry evident in her body language. 'Tsukasa can't make such a choice because she doesn't know enough! She's not smart enough! She's not in the mental state to-'"

"Sis, it's not like that!" Matsuri was the one who was brave enough to interrupt Tsukasa's rant. "We just have a better understanding on the matter-"

"Look there; that's exactly my point! 'Tsukasa doesn't know enough to be part of such an important decision.' Well someone PLEASE tell me the Intelligence Quota required to have a say in what happens to my own body! Anyone? No?" The room was silent, all eyes dumbfounded at Tsukasa's nuclear-force outburst.

"Tsu-" Miki started as the tea kettle began to whistle under the force of the steaming pressure inside.

"If anyone tells me to sit down, or calm down, I'M. LEAVING!"

"No, seriously, honey, I'm not trying to calm you or silence you. It's bad for you to exert yourself so much while you're pregnant-"

"See, there you go again, mom, telling me what's good and b-"

"You'll cause pregnancy complications," Miki said quietly, turning back toward the stove.

This calmly-spoken reality finally got into Tsukasa's mind, and the girl sighed deeply, before beginning a slow tread back upstairs. "I'm going to go take my nap. Let me know when you've finished planning out the rest of my life."

The room was silent except for the motions of Miki, who removed the cap from the kettle. Steam poured into the air, and she poured the water into a clear teapot.

"Kagami."

The long-haired sister looked at her brown-haired elder. Matsuri rested her chin on her folded hands, shifting her glare toward the girl in the doorway.

"Why the hell were you eavesdropping instead of watching Tsukasa?"

"Language," Miki chided. "But yes, Kagami, I sent you upstairs so you could keep your sister from hearing what we were discussing. She shouldn't have been let out of the room."

Kagami's eyes averted the gazes of her family members. "I'm sorry; I messed up. I guess I felt like you were kicking me out because I'm 'too young' too. I just wanted to hear what you guys had to say."

The moment was interrupted by the swift opening of the front door as Tadao burst into the house. "Sorry it took me so long to get home. How is everything? I thought I heard yelling." He looked to his wife for the answer to his question. Miki responded by wordlessly turning her gaze from her husband back to the cups of tea she was preparing. His face dropped slightly, from its already worried look, as he looked at each of his daughters. Inori, looking away as she always did when she was angered. Matsuri, shooting daggers at him with eyes that had been aimed at Kagami. And his aforementioned eldest twin daughter, who looked up at him with defensive, sheepish, and pleading eyes. His youngest was missing.

"Where's Tsukasa?" He asked to break the paper-thin tension in the room.

"Upstairs, napping," Inori replied shortly.

"Was that her I heard yelling?"

"Yeah," Kagami responded this time. "Mom, Inori, and Matsuri were discussing what we should do, and Tsukasa overheard."

"Which she wouldn't have if-"

"MATSURI!"

The entire room jumped as ceramics met metal when Miki brought down a full cup of tea on the stove. This was proven to be a terrible response when the scalding liquid once contained by the cup came splashing down onto Miki's hand. "Ahhh~!" she hissed as the tea burned itself into her porcelain skin. Tadao rushed to the side of his injured wife, brought her to the nearby sink, and stuck her hand under some cold running tap water. He held her tightly as she calmed down, the cool water easing away the throbbing pain.

"I'm sorry, girls," she spoke again once she was calm.

"It's okay, mom," Matsuri said softly. "We know this is all really stressful. We're all stressed. Kagami," she turned to her sister, "I'm sorry for blaming you for Tsukasa overhearing."

"It's alright. I'm sorry for neglecting my duties and eavesdropping."

"I'm sorry for calling you the "black sheep", Matsuri," Inori said. Miki's temper had brought her back to a position facing the rest of her family.

"I think we all owe an apology to Tsukasa," Miki concluded. "She's right. We always think of her as the baby of the family; someone we need to protect and shield from the world. But she deserves the same level of respect and trust as any of my other beautiful daughters. Especially in a situation like this, that has everything to do with her."

"Mom's right," Kagami concluded. "Inori, Matsuri, let's go apologize."

"Alright!"

"Let's go!"

When her three siblings appeared in her room, however, they found their baby sister to be asleep.

"Ahhh, she must've really been tired," Inori murmured, looking nostalgically at the sleeping bundle of Tsukasa.

"Let's come back later," Kagami whispered, starting to usher her sisters out of the room.

"Wait," Matsuri said, "Maybe if we apologize now, while she's asleep, she'll accept it better when she's awake."

"But what if we wake-" Kagami started, before she was cut off with an "are you serious" look from Matsuri.

"She sleeps like a log," Matsuri muttered. "We're not gonna wake her up." With that, she turned to face Tsukasa. "Sis, I'm sorry for always teasing you about being the youngest."

"I'm sorry for making you feel left out of things that you're old enough to be a part of," Inori added. "We just have a hard time seeing our baby sister as a grown up girl, free and intelligent enough to make her own decisions."

"I'm sorry for always treating you like I know more than you do, Su-chan," Kagami whispered. "Being your older twin and all, it's a terrible habit from when we were kids, and I should have outgrown it by now. I never really thought about what kind of effect it had on you-"

Tsukasa began to stir under the covers, and her sisters recoiled. "I told you she'd wake up!" Kagami hissed. Matsuri, nor Inori replied as Kagami chased them out of the room, closing the door behind herself.

Tucked cozily into her bed, Tsukasa could hardly contain her face-splittingly wide smile.

* * *

~~A bit later on that night, at the Kusakabe residence~~

Misao woke up just in time to swipe a drop of drool from her mouth before it hit the page of mostly finished homework in front of her. "Damn this rain…" she whined. The rain had always had an extremely relaxing effect on her, and she knew this assignment was not getting done until a full night's sleep occurred.

She turned off her desk light, and dove under the lilac-and-white checkered cover on her bed. As she began to get snuggly…

"…..I have to pee =_=."

She hadn't realized how cold her room was until she had to leave her bed. "The final frontier: The thirty feet from the bed to the bathroom," she muttered as she shuffled out into the hallway.

When she got out of her room, though, she was met with a most unexpected image of her older brother in a tan rain jacket, socks padding down the hallway with a purpose.

"Tsuneo? Where are you going this late at night? What girl wants to see _you_."

She was met, as usual, with his poker face. "It's not about who wants to see me." He turned and continued toward the front door.

Usually, Misao didn't care enough about her brother's endeavors to delve further into his cryptic messages, but this time she had a hunch that she had a stake in it.

"Don't tell me you're going to see Ayano," she yawned.

He was silent for a split second that let Misao know she was right.

"Y'know she already has a new boyfriend, right? Name's Mihiro. He's a sweet kid. Sort of your polar opposite, y'know, kind, caring, human..."

He'd paused in his tracks. "Cut the shit. I'm listening."

"He's really soft-spoken, but with a silky sort of deep voice," she started, giving him an actual description of what Mihiro was like. "Cute, too; dirty blonde hair and honey brown eyes. He's always doing everything for Ayano. Treats her like a princess."

"That's weird…" Tsuneo mumbled under his breath.

"What's weird?" Misao asked, yawning again to show her disinterest and tiredness.

"That's not the type of girl Ayano is. She hated it when I would treat her like a princess."

"Earth to Bro; _I_ don't like being treated like a princess. Ayano doesn't like being treated like she's made of glass, but she still likes being treated like a lady. That's why she broke up with you, remember. You were way too rough-and-tumble with her. Now tell me why you're going over there. I came out here to pee, not talk to you about girl troubles."

"Shut up before I tickle you until you wet yourself. I need to talk to her."

"E-mail."

"Now."

"Cellphone."

"It's busy."

"Something that doesn't involve you being a total stalker ex-boyfriend."

"I'm not," he growled, heading once again to the door, bored and annoyed with this conversation with his little sister.

"Then riddle me this: Who's still talking about his ex of a month who hasn't shown a bit of interest in him, still trying to talk to her when she doesn't want to talk to him, and is totally jealous of her new boyfriend?"

"You spend too much time on my life. Go get yourself a girlfriend already."

"Ehhhhhhh!" Misao made a buzzer sound while crossing her arms in an X. "The correct answer was Tsuneo: The crazy stalker psycho ex-boyfriend! Plus, I'm not a lesbian. Ayano's brother, remember?"

"Right, but you totally act like a lesbo, and you've never proven to me that you don't like girls. You spend far too much time being jealous of that blue-haired munchkin who's Kagami's friend, and is it just me or have I caught you checking out Ayano's sister, too. Although I wouldn't blame you. She's smokin'."

"Okay, firstly," Misao said, still in a bored tone. "You can't *act* lesbo. Secondly. Kagamin's like, my second bestest friend, and she never spends time with me anymore. Thirdly, no. It's just you. And your naughty fantasies about your sister need to stop right now, mister- HEY!"

Misao found herself being ruthlessly tickled to the floor by her older brother. "S-STOP!" she managed to force out between laughs and breaths.

He listened to his sister's plea, but gave a warning: "Next time, you're going to be stuck mopping pee off the floor. Then we're going to have to put you into diapers. Then what would Ayano's bro say, when he sees you all dolled up like a baby?"

"Well, he could be into that sort of thing…" started Misao. Tsuneo interrupted.

"Goodnight, Siiis," he said, waving his hand behind him as he disappeared down the dark corridor to the door. "I'll be back eventually."

"Yeah, don't get sick," Misao yelled behind him. As the door closed, she sighed. "Stupid bro. He's just getting himself in deeper and deeper water," she murmured to herself.

These thoughts followed her all the way to the bathroom and back into her bed. She'd decided in that time to shoot Ayano a warning text to let her know to expect Tsuneo. That might help his case a little, instead of just showing up completely unexpected. She set her phone aside, and as she drifted off, her thoughts drifted to Ayano's older brother. A smile and a string of drool appeared at her mouth, and a content expression appeared on her face as she fell asleep.

* * *

Well, I won't make any promises about next chapter, but the good news is that I'm already almost 1,000 words in (Each of my normal chapters is about 3200-3500 words) so you can reduce your begging by 1/3rd XD I hope this was good enough for you!


	13. Me and You

**Dang, I finally found it. I wrote this, probably, over a year ago, then lost it and didn't want to rewrite it. I had a hard drive die, and I thought I may have lost it to that, but when I consolidated my stuff from all of my computers onto an external drive, I found it.**

* * *

A few hours later~

Ayano laid on her bed, clad in her favorite yellow pajama top and panties. A phone call from her boyfriend Mihiro interrupted her as she was getting ready for bed, and now the girl lay on her stomach, toes curling shyly, and twirling her hair as if he could see how cute and vulnerable she was right then.

"Ah, my bro's here," he said in that wonderfully silky, docile voice of his, that made everything sound as if he were encouraging a small child, a voice Ayano thought was to die for, "We're headed off to do some grocery shopping for our grandma, so I'll have to talk to you later, okay~?"

He was such a sweet, and gentle guy. "Alright! I'll talk to you soon. Be safe in this rain."

"We will. Sweet dreams for a sweet girl," he said; she could practically hear his gentle smile through the phone. Her giggles were the only thing she managed to get out before the phone clicked to signal he had hung up.

"Ahhh~ What a sweetie!" Ayano grinned as her body tensed up with happiness and she rolled from side-to -side giddily, only stopping when she managed to smack her forehead on the phone. "OW!" She'd connected with it pretty hard, and she lightly rubbed the tender, throbbing, probably reddened area. "Jeez… I should probably put some ice on that…"

A pair of yellow, starry pajama pants and a quick walk down cold, wooden stairs later, Ayano was on her way to the kitchen when something in the window caught the corner of her eye. A light patch where there should have been none in a sea of darkness and rain outside. As she stopped and looked again, she saw it again, just before it flitted out of sight. Her eyes narrowed. Someone was outside, and trying not to be seen.

Ayano backed slowly away from the window, and around the corner to the kitchen, using the small light over the stove to keep from stumbling and giving herself a worse injury than just the already swelling bump. She peered cautiously around the archway, trying to hold her own cover in the relative darkness. There was a light outside the doorway, so whoever this was wouldn't be able to see into the house well.

Some utterance of language was heard from outside the doorway. Ayano couldn't hear it, but the bass tones that passed through the door alerted her to the fact that this was a man. Unsure of what to do, she kept watching.

Eventually, the figure did reappear in the doorway. A tan rain overcoat is what she had seen earlier. What she hadn't seen earlier was the spiky brown hair. Or sharp, light-brown eyes.

And she had never, ever, seen that look on his face before.

Thoughts raced through her head at a speed that would put bullets to shame, and her heart was ready to implode if any more hormones surged around it.

"Tsuneo! What the heck is my ex doing back over here?" she whispered.

At the angle where he was standing now, she could see only his right shoulder and a little bit of his drenched hair. He stood still, as if frozen on the doorstep. She held her breath and pulled back as his weight began to move to look into the window, at the kitchen. She slid her face ever so slightly toward the edge of the white, wooden arch, fingers gripping so tightly that her nails began to strip the paint from it. He had gone back to staring at the door, unmoving.

Ayano's feet were getting cold on the kitchen's wooden floors, so she made her move toward the door quickly.

"Tsuneo?" She questioned, as the door hatched open slightly. She was met with a look of shock and unpreparedness from the slightly taller but still short man in front of her, another look she was not used to seeing. "What are you doing here this late? In the rain?" His mouth gaped wordlessly for an awkward second or two before he finally found his vocal cords again.

"Uhhh… I…" the man silently cursed himself for not thinking this through.

"Does Misao know you're here?" she gave him a quizzical, slightly creeped out look, the kind a man never wants to see from a woman he loves. "You know I have a new boyfriend, right-"

"Yah I know, I know all of that. I-I mean, Misao knows I'm here, and I know about… Mihiro, right?" Words finally found the path from the jumbled mess in his brain to his vocal cords. "I just needed to talk to you and tell you that… well, a lot of things, really."

Ayano sighed and pulled the door open wider. "Come in; you'll get sick," she whispered, trying to keep her ex-boyfriend's presence a secret. This, however, didn't work.

"Aya, someone at the door?"

He hadn't even moved toward the open door before a female voice came suddenly, from the top of the stairs. Aya gritted her teeth, as she saw her older sister coming down the stairs. "Oh, aren't you Kusakabe?" He nodded, but before he could speak, Ayano's sister continued. "Don't you think it's a little late to be bothering my sister? Even so, I'm pretty sure she's made it clear that she doesn't want to talk to you anymore, am I right?"

Tsuneo no longer had anything to say, looking to Ayano for help, but she offered none. Her eyes did not meet his again. "If she wants to talk to you, she'll come to you, alright? Goodnight, Kusakabe." And with that, the door was closed lightly in his face.

"You alright, Aya?" the slightly taller girl asked, examining her younger sibling.

"I'm fine. I don't think he was going to do anything dangerous though. He just wanted to talk."

"Ehhh, well, ya never know. Plus you know how rambunctious those Kusakabes are. And coming over here at eleven at night? Really?" She then took notice of the red knot on her sister's head. "You _are _hurt!"

"That was the phone!" She giggled at her own clumsiness. "I was talking to Mihiro, and I kind of smacked myself. That's why I came down; to get some ice."

"Oh, alright. Say, go and head back upstairs; I'll bring you some ice and some decaf tea."

"You're always looking out for me, sis," Ayano grinned as she was cuffed lightly in the head by the shoulder-length- haired blonde.

"Yeah, yeah, well, that's my job."

Ayano scampered back up the stairs and into her bed, grabbing her flip phone cellphone from her night stand. The thing, which she had had for three years now, was on its last legs, and her parents had offered to buy her a smartphone, but she wasn't the type to get rid of a perfectly good phone just because there was something newer or better out there. Two new texts stood out in an alert on the front screen. Flipping open the phone, it went automatically to the first, from Misao. A warning that Tsuneo was on his way over. She recalled hearing the text alert as she was halfway through her conversation with Mihiro, and she now wished that she had checked it. The second had just arrived from Tsuneo.

"Sorry to have bothered you," it read simply. "Tomorrow night, if you would like to hear what I have to say, meet me at the elementary school playground at ten tomorrow night."

* * *

She couldn't help but find herself walking there 23 hours later. The elementary school wasn't far from where she lived, so the train would have been inefficient. She also couldn't help the memories and worries drifting by.

Tsuneo. They had dated for two years. He was adorable when he was flustered, tried hard to make her happy, obviously loved her. But at the same time, he had a way of somehow making her feel sort of inferior. A feeling like he didn't want to make her happy for her sake, rather that her happiness fulfilled some sort of need of his own. She was always some tagalong commodity, like an item on his ever-full checklist. And then, there was…

"_I'm so sorry..." Ayano said softly to her freshman classmate Misao. The girl shrugged silently, glancing out of the window, then back to facing stiffly forward._

"_It's whatever. He was a dumb dog anyway. You can't really be sad anyway, when he lived nineteen happy years. Tsuneo was way more attached than I was. He was 'his' dog."_

"_Still though, Chuukun has been around your entire life."_

_Misao laughed in a bittersweet manner. "He's been doing but lazing around and farting for the past four years, with Tsuneo pushing him like he's still a puppy. Old boy deserves a good, long rest." Tears came to the eyes of both girls, but as the tardy bell rang, they faded away._

_After school, Ayano and Misao arrived at the Kusakabe residence to be greeted by a lonely tension. The usual vision, the old, fat, brown and white Akita, laying lazily at the bottom of the staircase with his head on the first stair, ears perking up and body coming back to life as the girl he'd been waiting for arrived in the open doorway, was gone. Ayano's heart throbbed, but Misao had up her usual front. As well as Ayano knew her, she didn't know if this memory, which was particularly heartbreaking to Ayano, even affected the tough brunette, but she imagined it must've at least a little bit._

"_I'm home!" Misao shouted out in a normal voice, leaving Ayano to close the door. Both girls proceeded to the kitchen, where some activity in the stagnant house could be heard. Neither of them wanted to be alone at a time like this._

"_Ah, Misao!" an elderly voice called out. "Welcome back. Did you bring Ayano with you?"_

"_Yes, I'm here, Mrs. Kusakabe!" she responded to Misao's grandmother. "I'm so sorry about Chuukun."_

"_Ahhh, don't be, don't be. With Tsuneo pushing that dog around like he was, he was overdue for a nap," she said similarly to what Misao had said earlier, making Ayano realize that her friend was definitely more distraught that she had seemed. She'd been to her grandmother for words of comfort. "Tsuneo's the one you should be sorry about. Poor boy has been up in his room all alone all day."_

"_Granny, you know how he likes to be alone," Misao replied, grabbing a slice of apple that was laid out in front of her and Ayano._

_"I know, but what kind of guy isn't cheered up by seeing his girlfriend?"_

_Ayano's heart thumped once, loudly, as it began to sink. Every time she'd tried to comfort him when he was in a bad mood, nothing she ever tried seemed to help. If she listened, he didn't want to talk. If she offered him advice, it would breeze past him. If she tried being forceful, he got annoyed. If she just laid there, hugging him and stroking his hair, he never got any better. He was un-distractible, too. None of his favorite things would shake him, even if he would be bothered with going through the motions. Time was the only thing that could ever help Tsuneo. Not her. But nothing this significant had happened to him since they started dating. Maybe he actually needed her this time._

_She found herself, against her better judgment and the wary look Misao gave her, knocking inaudibly on his door. There was no reply. She knocked again, a little more loudly. He grunted. She opened the door._

_"Baby…?" she started._

_"Oh. Hey." he was lying face up on his bed with his legs dangling off, facing Ayano. All she could see of his face was his nose. and his spiky hair coming up behind it._

_She walked in nearly silently and closed the door behind her. Her heart was pounding nervously in her chest, aware of everything that was coming from her mouth and ready at any second to jump down with condescending afterthoughts. "I'm so sorry about Chuukun… I know how much you loved being with him."_

_"Mm."_

_It was immediately apparent that not only was this going to go nowhere, he wasn't even speaking. This was worse than ever before. Regardless of her terror, she took a seat next to him on the bed. She was tired of trying to figure it out for herself. She cut straight to the chase. "Is there anything I can do?"_

_He shook his head. "Nah. Thanks, though. I just need some time."_

_'Big surprise,' she thought, then immediately bit her tongue as punishment. 'Ayano, how can you be so selfish!? His dog just died, and you can only be worried about yourself!'_

_"He was such a sweetheart," she murmured despite the storm raging above her. "I know I don't miss him nearly as much as you do, but I will miss him a whole lot."_

_"Yeah." He hadn't looked at her since she came in. His eyes were transfixed on the ceiling. Ayano bit her lip._

_"Well… if there's anything you want from me, let me know, alright?" She grinned her biggest, fakest smile._

_"Yeah."_

_"I'll be doing homework with Misao." She kissed him hesitantly on the cheek and left the room._

_"'Kay."_

Misao had told her multiple times not to worry about it, and all he needed was time. She didn't blame him for it, but she hated this fact. If she couldn't break his mood, make it all better, be special to him, what was the point? All she was to him was a nice, pretty face who tagged along in his antics. There were millions of those in Japan. After that incident, she rarely bothered him when he was in one of his moods. She wasn't about to sit around for a guy who didn't value her. Although that wasn't even what hurt her the most. What really cut was the fact that he didn't even miss her. He never came and sought her company after she stopped trying to comfort him in his times of need. In stopping, she was halfway hoping that that would happen. But it didn't.

It wasn't that he didn't think he needed her. It was the fact that he was right.

She looked up to see where she was after becoming so lost in thought and she realized that she had already arrived at the playground. She saw a familiar figure perched on top of the jungle gym, who, once she got closer, hopped down to greet her.

"Hey, Ayano."

"Hey."

"I'm, uh, sorry I came to your house like that last night." His voice didn't have its normal hyper tone to it, instead it sounded low and gravely, but not quite as monotone as when he was upset.

"It's alright." She continued to give him short answers, she realized it was probably as a subconscious payback.

"Here, let's go sit on the swings."

On the walk over, he began to explain.

"You told me when you broke up with me that it was because I didn't really value you, right? You said, quote, "It's like you have a checklist of things to obtain in life, 'nice car, cool clothes, cute girlfriend', and you don't really care about me. You only do nice things because that's the image you have in your head of what you do for your 'cute girlfriend'. You don't do things because they make me happy. You do things because they make you happy that you're making me happy."

Ayano's eyes widened slightly. She couldn't remember exactly what she'd said in her anger, but she knew that it was close, and he probably did remember it verbatim.

"I thought about it, and you were right." They took their seats on the low swings. "A lot of the things I did was because I wanted to be a good boyfriend. Not to make you happy. But because I wanted to fulfill the role. But that didn't mean that your happiness carried no weight to me. I love seeing your smile, Ayano. I love it when you giggle, support me in things, everything that you do makes me happy. I didn't realize until now that what I thought was love was actually just my dream to make you give those responses. Not until you left."

"Uh-huh…" she said.

"And I also realized something else. Let me know if I'm wrong, though. But I think I also failed to think about making your dreams come true."

She looked over to her left, over to him for the first time. He didn't reciprocate eye contact.

"When we first started going one, and I was bugged about something, you always used to come and try to make me feel better. But after Chuukun died, you hardly ever did that anymore. I always used to think, "Usually Aya would be here with me," but I never thought about why you weren't. Now I understand that if my dream was to have a girl who thought I was a great boyfriend, yours was to have a boyfriend who you could be there for. And I'm not that kind of guy."

He paused, seemingly waiting for a response. "Am I right?" he said after a bit. "Was that a good conclusion?"

Ayano nodded, and gave a sad, barely present smile. "When Chuukun died, I felt so selfish, but I was done. I felt like, 'Tsuneo never needs me for anything.' I felt like the only good I was was for smiling and looking pretty, and needing you. I didn't feel special at all."

Suddenly Tsuneo stood up and her face was buried into his chest. She felt his arms wrap gently around her head. "Aya… I feel like shit for making you ever feel that way…" he whispered. "I always needed you. I didn't need any random girl to fulfill my wishes and dreams. I always knew that. What I thought was that I needed you to fulfill them. But that was wrong too. What I really needed, this entire time… was just you. Plain and simple. I haven't missed the fact that I no longer have a girl to play out my ideal live with. I miss having you. I miss everything about you. You could do everything that goes against those wishes I had, and I would still love you."

"Tsuneo, I-"

"So please…" she felt his muscles shaking around her. "I need you to be mine again…"

Ayano gently pushed Tsuneo away from her and stood up. Her blue eyes, illuminated by the nearby lightpost, stared straight up into his light brown ones.

"I'm sorry. I have Mihiro now, and… and he's everything I've ever..." At this point, she looked away, afraid to see what his eyes were doing. "One thing I've noticed about people. They can change habits. They can do things to make themselves a better person. But their personalities don't change. Over time, their life experiences may change their personalities. But another person can't do it. They can make them mask it. But a person can't say, "You don't like this about me, so I'll change that about myself." It just doesn't happen, if it's ingrained in their personality."

"Aya, but…" he trailed off before sighing heavily. "I will move Heaven and Earth to change myself for you."

"I don't want you to," she said, meeting his defeated gaze.

"Huh?"

"I don't want you to change for me. I want you to be you, and find a girl who loves you for who you are. There IS one out there."

"But I don't want her, I want you…" his voice went back down to a whisper as he clenched his fists.

"You think that now, but it'll change," she said gently. She had to keep her own urges in check. Seeing Tsuneo as he was made her want to hug him around the neck and kiss him.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time here tonight," he muttered. "But… that doesn't mean I'm going to give up on you. Ayano Minegishi, I love you. And I always will." He began to back up. "It's pretty late… At least let me see you a safe distance."

"I'll be fine," she said, as she turned away. "This wasn't a waste of time, Tsuneo. Know that."


	14. I Can't Decide

Five minutes later, she was almost out of the deserted sector of the walk. Except for a jogging couple and a lady letting her dog out to use the restroom (who expressed concern for the fact that Ayano was walking so late at night by herself) she hadn't seen any other humans.

In the distance, as she was almost to the lighted streets, she could see a light flickering in an alley between stores. The same white-purple light had been flickering when she was on her way, but this time she could see shadows spilling onto the street and heard laughter.

She paid no heed to the voices, probably belonging to some hooligans, as she drew closer, until she heard one that sounded familiar.

"Seriously dude, I don't understand all this "monogamous" stuff." said a rough voice.

"She's a really nice girl, though," spoke the gentle, deep, familiar voice.

"Yeah," spoke a voice different from the first, slightly more high-pitched, "You could have two or three nice girls. Why just one? Hell, I still don't understand dating. Being dedicated to just one has to be expensive."

She'd stopped, on the left side of the alley's entrance, back pressed flat against the brick and glass of the storefront.

One of the shadows next to her raised its shoulders, the one with the familiar voice. "I dunno. It's just the kind of guy I am. Maybe someday, when you guys meet a girl as special as she, you'll-"

""She?"" the first voice said again, "Dude, you're always so formal with the speech, so reserved, so polite. If you weren't so good at fighting, I'd forget why you're here."

"He also makes for an excellent front," said a fourth and final, deeper voice. "No one ever thinks he means any trouble. What sort of trouble would a honest-looking kid like him cause?"

"Back to the point, though. She's not even that well-developed. I never really saw the appeal in a girl with such a normal body. They're a dime a dozen in this country." This came from the third voice.

"Yeah, Kazuma, but she's got a pretty face, and she's blonde with blue eyes. You see them individually all the time, but the combo is rare."

"Whatever. Mihiro can have his preferences. Leaves the buxoms to me."

Ayano gasped, almost out loud, but she managed to clamp her mouth over her hand at the last second. She peered slightly around the corner, and she could see the source of the shadow she thought she recognized.

It was him.

"You guys are terrible at this," the fourth, deep voice said. "Didn't any of you hear earlier?"

"Hear what?" Kazuma and the first voice said.

"Those footsteps. Footsteps that stopped before they got to the alley. We've got someone listening in."

The next set of footsteps they heard was Ayano turning tail and sprinting in the direction she'd just come from.

"Get him!" Kazuma shouted

"Who do you think it is!?" yelled Mihiro.

"Probably Shoji," the fourth voice said relatively calmly.

"We'll beat that bastard to a bloody pulp!" growled Kazuma. "Don't let him get away!"

Ayano ducked behind the first large object she could find, a car, and waited until she heard the four men whizz past before she raised the hood on her thick, cream-colored coat and began walking calmly back toward home. Her jacket was new; Mihiro hadn't seen it yet, so he wouldn't be able to recognize her from a distance. She looked and saw the guys confusedly trying to follow the trail of "Shoji", scores of meters away, and knew she was safe for the moment.

But the future was more uncertain than ever.

* * *

There was an uncomfortable silence between her and her sister.

"Sooo…" her sister slowly broke the silence. "You're trying to figure out… whether to date your ex-boyfriend, or a yankii."

Ayano smiled cutely and sweatdropped.

"…I have failed as an older sister."

"Sis, but Tsuneo is really deeply in love with me. And he's recognized how his actions upset me, half of it on his own. And Mihiro was speaking very highly of me when I overheard his conversation."

"Ex-boyfriend… versus Yankii," she repeated.

Ayano groaned loudly. "Sis, could you get off that?"

"Uh… no, I can't, really."

"Just because one's my ex and the other is a delinquent doesn't make them bad people!"

She received a raised eyebrow in return.

"UGH, sis, you never understand anything!"

"I think your problem with me is the fact that I understand too much."

Ayano thought for a beat. "You know, you're right. You understand SO much that you think you know everything, when you don't!"

"You're also right. But Aya. We stereotype and group people for a reason. It's not just a human thing either. Think about it like this. Does a mouse give every snake a chance? No. It doesn't, because if it did, it would get eaten. That's why mice are afraid of snakes. I heard of a case one time of a snake who got a mouse as food and didn't eat it. And one of a lioness who adopts baby… gazelles or antelope or something like that. Yes, exceptions do exist. But we group people and judge them beforehand to get an idea of what we're working with. Prejudice isn't just ignorance. We have them to prevent us from getting hurt. We fear lions because they eat us. We fear ex-boyfriends because they hurt us. Not only that, we broke up with them for a reason, and people don't change."

"Yes, yes, I know," she said hastily. "But if we automatically assume that everyone fits the stereotype and act accordingly, how do we ever find the exceptions? Sure, Tsuneo probably won't change, because that's part of who he is. But we don't know that. And Mihiro hasn't even done anything bad to me! He just so happens to also be a delinquent."

"Hell, Ayano, from a _logical_ perspective, there's nothing good about dating a delinquent! Who wants a guy who has to watch his back every five seconds for fear of getting arrested or beaten up! That's a bad lifestyle." Ayano was about to protest, but her sister cut her off again. "NOT… saying anything about his personality at all. Just think about it logically. Aside from the personalities of delinquents, think about the things they experience and go through."

Ayano sighed and left the room without saying anything else to her sister. However, she came back and poked her head in the door for a final message.

"I'm going to prove to you that both of these guys are alright guys to date. Then will you give me real advice?"

"Sure," came the absentminded reply.

"Awesome." She flipped open her phone and began dialing numbers.


End file.
